


Take A Bite Of My Heart Tonight

by notthetoothfairy



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Animal Transformation, Animorphs AU, M/M, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-07-12 17:59:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 77,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7116715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notthetoothfairy/pseuds/notthetoothfairy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In all honesty, Blaine feels a little bit like he’s been dragged into this whole mess. He signed up for a bowling night with the New Directions on a Friday night, and the next thing he knows, he’s enlisted as a supernatural soldier in the fight against aliens. But he’s not going to let his best friend fight aliens without him, so... those bad guys better watch out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First Morph Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Any Animorphs lovers among you Gleeks/Klainers? I attempted to write a thingy, also known as AU (and also lovingly dubbed "klanimorphs" in my documents). I've been writing this since December so I'm pretty excited to finally get it out there!
> 
> And you know what's super cool? You do not have to have read or watched Animorphs to read this! I only ever read the first book and extrapolated from that. So do give this a try even if the name Animorphs does not ring a bell at all!
> 
> I owe a-simple-rainbow life-long gratitude for beta'ing and regularly improving and saving this story. This would truly not be presentable in the least if it wasn't for her.
> 
> Warnings: This fic does contain some pretty heavy stuff at times, including minor character death (I promise it's really just minor characters, but if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to turn to my ask box on my tumblr [notthetoothfairy], I can tell you what to skip) and some graphic fight scenes (again, my ask box is wide open).
> 
> I'll most likely update this once a week and it'll be about eight chapters in total (so if you prefer finished fics over WIPs, I'd be delighted if you checked back here in about two months).

Blaine looks on in shock as Kurt transforms into a bird in front of him.

No, not transforms. He _morphs_.

His best friend morphs into a tiny canary, an exact replica of Pavarotti, and Blaine’s suddenly hit with the realization that the weird dream he had last night was, in fact, no dream at all. It was nothing but stone-cold reality.

Though Blaine really could swear that it was a dream.

Then again, how much would you trust your own judgment if you woke up with the feeling that you met a dying alien that gave you and your group of friends the ability to take the shape of any animal you touched?

Yeah.

And to know that you’ve been given this strange… power, not for fun but to save human kind, is, frankly, not only a lot of pressure but also scary as hell.

So it’s not a dream, oh no. It’s a nightmare.

Kurt seems to take all of this a little lighter, chirping in his new-found animal form when Blaine still doesn’t do anything but frown at him, apparently not realizing that Blaine is having the minor mental breakdown they probably both should have.

He wonders if any of their friends are reacting like either of them, and makes a mental note to send out a text later to check in with them.

“Kurt,” Blaine says when Kurt flies up to the ceiling, probably to look at the way their dorm room furniture is arranged from above to make some design changes later, “you’re freaking me out.”

Kurt chirps down from up above, and rationally Blaine knows birds can’t have facial expressions but he could swear that Pavarotti-Wannabe-Kurt is making fun of him.

“Kurt, I mean it,” Blaine says, sitting down on his bed and shooting the tiny warbler a pleading look. “Can you please change back?”

Kurt flutters his wings, and within a few seconds he’s landed safely on Blaine’s pillow and sings again, as if he’s trying to tell Blaine something.

“I don’t speak bird, Kurt.” For a second, he thinks he might be hallucinating. Maybe he’s speaking to Pavarotti. Maybe he’s having a really bad headache and Kurt transforming is just something he made up in his head.

Then again – and this is really fucked up – he can totally see the real Pavarotti sitting in his cage on Kurt’s desk.

So unless he has a twin that Kurt and Blaine didn’t know anything about, this bird on Blaine’s pillow must really be Kurt.

He _watched_ him morph, after all.

_< Hellooooo? Blaine? Come on, please hear me.>_

Blaine’s head snaps back to Kurt Pavarotti.

“Did you just…?” he asks, cringing at how high his voice goes. But… that was Kurt’s voice that just spoke. But Kurt is currently a bird, as much as Blaine hates to think about it. So how can Kurt speak? “What the hell is happening?”

_< So you _can _hear me? Oh god, finally. I thought I was never going to learn how to do that. >_

“Kurt…” Blaine whispers. “Are you in my head?”

_< No, I’m right here. I’m still in my head, you’re still in yours. But they’re… connected, I guess?>_

“Please change back, please change back, please change back,” Blaine chants, feeling himself get downright desperate.

He wants his best friend back, and not just because everyone will think he’s gone insane if he takes a fake Pavarotti to lunch every day and speaks to him like they’re having a conversation. Kurt in bird form is just plain weird, and way too close to that nightmare-ish reality he is trying to forget.

He kind of misses Kurt’s face, too.

_< I…>_ The voice Blaine hears in his head sounds a bit sheepish. _< I heard you the first time. I just didn’t think this through. Can you open the bathroom door for me?>_

“Uh…” Blaine gets up and quickly crosses over to their little in-dorm bathroom. “Sure.”

Kurt flies through the open door and sets himself down on the floor.

Blaine stares at him, and it feels like Kurt might be staring back with a slightly annoyed expression.

_< Blaine, I kind of need you to close the door or at least turn around or something.>_

Blaine frowns. “Why?”

The bird chirps angrily. _< Because I tried this earlier and when I changed back, my clothes weren’t on my body but on a pile on the floor. So, yeah.>_

“What?” Blaine asks, still confused.

_< Blaine, I’m probably gonna be naked. So, just… be elsewhere, okay?>_

“Oh.” Blaine’s too embarrassed to reach for the door, so he just goes back to his bed and pointedly stares at the wall. The morphing is completely quiet, save for Kurt’s mumbled, “Ugh, I hope I learn how to do that a bit more smoothly.” He hears some rustling and pulling of material, so he figures Kurt didn’t manage to keep his clothes on this time, either, and the thought gets blood rushing to his face.

It’s not like he _likes_ Kurt. Well, he likes him well enough, of course, they’re best friends. Kurt is special and amazing, and he’s certainly the wittiest person Blaine knows. But they’re friends, and Blaine draws the line there.

Still, the thought of Kurt naked in their bathroom – even though quite normal, now that Blaine thinks of it, because Kurt also _showers_ in there every day, too… and no, he’s not having those kinds of thoughts now on top of everything else – is making him a bit flustered.

“Okay, all done,” Kurt says – an actual voice, back to how Blaine knows it.

Blaine turns around on his mattress, and takes a good look at his best friend.

Yes, he certainly looks like he normally does, even if his hair is a bit ruffled, and his clothes look like he pulled them on hastily and not with his usual care.

But he’s 100% Kurt. No bird traces.

“You scared me,” Blaine admits.

“Why?” Kurt asks, and there’s something gentle yet eerily unperturbed about the way he says it. “You heard Starchild yesterday. We can do this now.”

Starchild, yes. He had a far more complicated name, Prince Elliott-Gilbert-Shamtul or something along those lines, but he told them that Starchild was fine to address him with.

Having read his fair share of sci-fi books, Blaine always thought he’d be well-versed in the kinds of aliens that might exist in the galaxy, but Starchild looked nothing like any of them. He had a body like a centaur, his upper body resembling a human one except for the blue-ish hue of his skin and the mouthless face, as well as a set of antenna-like stalks at the top of his head leading to a second pair of eyes. When Blaine was done processing the lack of the mouth and the quadruple eyesight, he actually noticed that the ears and the nose was different from human’s, too – ears ending in pointy tips, almost elf-like, and the nose had three nostrils. It was all very peculiar but, then again, the appearance wasn’t the only thing that was different about Starchild.

He was the one who gave them the… power, or ability, or whatever, to absorb animals’ DNA and recreate it within themselves, apparently a skill that was common among his kind, as he told them – well, Blaine thinks he told them, it was actually more like a voice was resonating inside his head (just like Kurt’s did a minute ago), and Starchild’s facial expressions matched his words. And it made sense, too, that he’d communicate in thoughts when he didn’t have a mouth to actually speak.

Starchild’s ship had crashed in a battle with the Yeerks, the remains still giving off smoke on the abandoned construction site behind the Lima Bean. The prince himself was badly injured. So bad, in fact, that he was dying. And he needed someone to take over his responsibility to defeat some guy called Visser Two and his army.

An army of evil aliens. If the situation hadn’t been so utterly serious, what with Starchild actually dying in front of their eyes, Blaine would have been delighted to hear that these things exist in real life. He actually remembers Sam elbowing him in excitement.

Brittany was the first to crouch down next to the alien prince and promise to fight for him. Santana tried to hold her back but it was too late, the prince already smiled and touched Brittany’s forehead, which began to glow in a bright yellow briefly.

To everyone’s surprise, the next one to pledge allegiance was Kurt. His forehead glowed, too, a little brighter and longer than Brittany’s, and Blaine wouldn’t have thought anything of that if Starchild’s eyes hadn’t widened ever so slightly. He’s only remembering this now, but he asked Kurt about it afterwards, and Kurt just said that he didn’t know why Starchild seemed so surprised, looking just as confused as Blaine.

Sam was next, and then Tina. Between Santana and Blaine, both of them reluctant to just give themselves over to some sort of higher alien power that made their foreheads shine in neon yellow, the decision was a bit harder to make. None wanted to go first (or at all).

_< I wouldn’t ask this of you if I didn’t really need your help,>_ Starchild begged, and both of them finally nodded, not wanting to be the only ones who didn’t agree to save the planet, and received their mark at the same time, their glowing foreheads the only remarkable source of light in the dark alley.

How convenient that the six of them were taking a short-cut back to the Lima Bean parking lot after they went bowling, Blaine thinks bitterly. If nobody had walked by the construction site, which is highly unlikely at night, would Starchild have died without passing on his power?

He knows that this is how it always goes. Nobody who has “the” power actually _asks_ for it.

He’s in line with Frodo, and Harry Potter, and Buffy, and Spiderman, and… and Princess Mia, for God’s sake, and they’re all complaining about how they don’t want to be the Chosen One.

The thing is… he really didn’t ask. He just wants to continue going to school, be the lead of his school choir, maybe accomplish something that his brother hasn’t already accomplished before him, and study something with arts… okay, and marriage equality in all fifty states – but really, are those things too much to ask?

“Blaine?” Kurt asks, and actually waves his hand in Blaine’s face so Blaine knows he must have spaced out for a minute or two. “Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not,” Blaine says tiredly. “You changed into a bird in front of me and then you _talked to me in my head_.”

“Nice choice of emphasis,” Kurt comments wryly, and sits down on the bed next to Blaine. “You didn’t find the bird thing just a tiny bit weirder than the thought-speaking? Really, Blaine?”

“Excuse me for freaking out, Mr. Calm,” Blaine mumbles, and it’s unsettling that they’re starting to argue about this, because they never argue about anything. They’re Kurt-and-Blaine, the entity that everybody always envies because they just click.

He doesn’t want to fight. But he doesn’t want to take it back, either.

He leans his head against the wall, closes his eyes, and waits for Kurt’s reply.

“You know, maybe you just need to get it in your head that things do exist outside of the world you can control, you know?” Kurt explains after a while, sounding a little too matter-of-fact for Blaine’s liking.

“I find it interesting that you don’t believe in any kind of god, but the concept of aliens and… and shape-shifting-“

“Morphing,” Kurt corrects.

“Whatever.” Blaine waves a hand, his eyes still closed. It’s easier to escape that way. “I just don’t get how that’s just peanuts to you.”

“Well, it’s not exactly _peanuts_ , but… I don’t know.” Kurt sounds frustrated. Whether he’s frustrated with Blaine or with himself, Blaine can’t really tell. “I believe in things I can see and touch, you know? And I know for a fact that I didn’t dream any of this because I can actually change into animals now. It’s tangible, it’s not just a concept. I mean – I just demonstrated it, didn’t I? It was right here in front of you. _You_ were right here, Blaine, and you saw it, too.”

Blaine opens his eyes, and tilts his head slightly to look at Kurt. He’s staring ahead, tangling and untangling his fingers a little erratically, like he might be having just as much of a hard time accepting all of this as Blaine, after all. It gives Blaine a tiny bit of comfort.

“That actually makes a lot of sense,” Blaine admits.

“Told you.” Kurt chuckles. “It’s also a bit easier to believe in an alien that gives you impressive powers instead of an omnipotent guy who supposedly hates you.”

Blaine nods. That much he definitely understands.

He pulls his legs up to cross them under his body and shoots Kurt an apologetic look.

“Sorry,” he says. “I don’t want to fight with you.”

“It’s not a fight,” Kurt replies with a small smile. “You’re just stressed, I get it.”

“You do?”

“Yeah.” Kurt grins. “I was so mad at you earlier this morning. I couldn’t sleep all night, thinking about everything that happened, and then I got up to actually try morphing so I would know I wasn’t going crazy, and you just seemed to be having the sleep of your life.”

“I…” There’s no point in denying it; he actually did sleep very well. “I was really tired.”

“I get that, too.” Kurt yawns. “The morph was kind of exhausting.”

Blaine motions to the bed. It’s his, but that hasn’t stopped Kurt from napping on it before, and he kind of likes having Kurt there when he does his homework or dozes off as well.

“By all means,” he says. “You deserve a nap.”

“Yeah.” Kurt nods. “Okay.”

He rolls himself into his usual napping position, not taking up too much space so he won’t crowd Blaine’s, looking like a cute little cat, and Blaine is not going to think about how he actually could be a cat someday because apparently the line between human and animal has now been majorly blurred for them.

Instead, he grabs his phone to send out a few texts to ask the others how they’re doing. Halfway through his texts, he realizes he probably shouldn’t be too explicit.

What if they’re being watched? Oh god, they’ll need to be so _careful_.

He decides on a mass text.

_Did you all get home okay? – Blaine_

It’s safe enough, he decides, and sends it.

“Hey, Kurt?” he asks on an afterthought.

“Mhhh?”

“What does morphing feel like?”

Kurt opens his eyes to consider Blaine with a brief look before closing them again.

“A bit like putting on swim clothes that are already wet.”

Blaine tries picturing it but it doesn’t sound all that pleasant.

“Is it difficult?”

“No.” Kurt smiles with his eyes closed. “It felt really natural to me, actually. But I’ll admit the first time was a bit weird. And I was scared… I wasn’t sure how to morph back, you know? But you just have to focus really hard on what you want.”

“Okay.” Blaine exhales slowly. “That does sound scary.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Kurt says. “I’ll help you if you want to try it. But can I sleep first?”

“Of course,” Blaine promises, though he’s not so sure yet if he actually wants to try it. He kind of feels like hiding under his blanket for the rest of his life and never coming out again. “Good… night, or whatever.”

“Good night,” comes the sleepy reply, and a minute later, Kurt’s snoring softly.

Blaine sighs. This is without a doubt the weirdest morning of his life.

He’s about to delve into deep and complicated thoughts about what his life might become now that aliens are not only a possibility but a reality, and a threat he might have to fight off, when his phone buzzes and brings him back to the present.

_Yes, everything’s okay. The others were thinking of meeting up at Brittany’s place later (her parents are out all day), say, at about 4pm. Are you two game? – Tina_

The way she phrases things makes Blaine think that he’s not the only one who figured out that their texts should best be kept vague.

He texts back a short confirmation, and sets an alarm for later because as much as he already slept, he could probably still use some more energy for later.

When he falls asleep, he dreams of running through a field, but instead of two legs, he suddenly has four.

It doesn’t feel bad in his dream. It feels empowering.

* * *

“Welcome to our first morph meeting,” Brittany announces a few hours later, everyone huddling close together on her bed while she sits on her cozy armchair and Santana is draped across the backrest.

“Are we calling it that?” Tina pipes up. “Maybe we should be more careful with our choice of words.”

“Nobody’s here to overhear us,” Sam argues, his back perched up against a fluffy pillow at Brittany’s headboard. He doesn’t look scared at all, and Blaine quietly shuffles closer to Tina to show his support of her standpoint.

Indeed, she continues to speak Blaine’s mind exactly.

“You don’t know that,” she insists. “They could be anywhere.”

That makes Blaine’s head reel. They don’t even know what exactly an alien invasion entails, do they? Does every alien look like Starchild? He didn’t look all that scary, he was actually quite handsome – had it not been for the seamless skin on his face where a mouth should have been, he would have looked rather ethereal than extraterrestrial to Blaine’s untrained eye.

And that’s just it – they’re all untrained, aren’t they? Sure, Starchild didn’t have any other option at the time, but Blaine doubts it’s the smartest move to let a completely clueless group of children take over the fight to save the earth from an alien invasion, especially if they can’t even tell if there’s an alien in the room _right now_.

“Okay, let’s maybe not get paranoid,” Kurt says, and Blaine knows it’s not directed at him specifically but he can’t help but look down at his hands with a bit of a guilty feeling. “Yes, we need to be careful but we’re in a room full of people who are in the know and I think calling it what it is – morphing – is probably going to help us get used to it.”

“I dare you to _morph_ into that spider,” Santana sneers, pointing up to the corner of the ceiling where indeed a fairly big one is hovering in its net.

Kurt wrinkles his nose. “I’m not touching that, not even for money.”

Santana scoffs at him. “Well, then it’s settled – the aliens win because Hummel’s scared of the itsy-bitsy spider.”

“Hey, that’s uncalled for,” Blaine tries to intervene, but Santana is apparently just getting started.

“This is insane,” she continues, getting up from the armchair and pacing Brittany’s bedroom in hectic circles instead. “We’re supposed to touch animals and turn into them to stop some E.T. bullshit? That’s not only the lamest thing I’ve ever heard but also the most unhelpful power in the history of the supernatural, isn’t it? I mean, what kind of animals would we use to take on an army of aliens, anyway? I don’t own a fucking cheetah, or does anyone else have any pets that would like to volunteer for the job?”

“Lord Tubbington’s down,” Brittany says with a shrug, her cat jumping on her lap as if on cue, but everyone chooses to ignore her interjection.

“Santana’s right,” Tina says slowly. “We don’t have access to any big animals that would be even remotely useful.”

“Size isn’t always useful.” Sam shrugs. “Small, ordinary animals are good for overhearing conversations, right? We could use that to our advantage, you know, to get more information about what we’re fighting against.”

“Touch the spider then,” Santana hisses. “And good luck not getting sucked into a vacuum cleaner when you hang off people’s walls like fucking Peter Parker.”

Sam shakes his head. “I wasn’t talking about the spider – though, seriously, I’ll touch it, no big deal – but about our pets. Take Lord Tubbington, for example.” Brittany proudly lifts the cat to show him to everyone. “He’s inconvenient, right?”

“Inconspicuous,” Blaine says as if he’s on autopilot.

“Right, that,” Sam says with a nod towards Blaine. “Nobody will think it’s weird if a random cat roams the streets and follows people around. I bet you they’ll run screaming if we turn into the Big Five, though.”

“That’s a smart thought,” Kurt says, and Sam beams. “I do think we’ll need some of the more dangerous animals for later, though. Lord Tubbington doesn’t exactly look like a killing machine.”

“He purrs and people die of the adorableness,” Brittany comments.

Blaine still isn’t convinced, and from the looks of it, Santana and Tina aren’t, either.

“You don’t even know what we’re up against, Kurt,” Tina says. “And between the six of us, I don’t think we have enough animals to even try _spying_ on people, let alone fight or kill.”

“Sure we have,” Sam says. “My neighbor has a dog. Brittany has a cat. I’m sure we can get a hold of other people’s pets if we need to.”

“Kurt turned into Pavarotti this morning,” Blaine says without thinking, and everyone gasps.

“You’re an Italian opera singer?” Brittany asks, looking Kurt up and down in fascination.

“Pavarotti is the canary the Warblers at Dalton gave me to take care of,” Kurt explains. He shoots Blaine a look as if to say _nice job, blabbermouth_ , and looks around the room. “It’s no big deal, okay?”

Blaine doesn’t even have the energy to feel sorry that he spilled Kurt’s little bird secret. After all, Kurt was the one who was all excited to go to the meeting and try morphing with his friends.

In all honesty, Blaine feels a little bit like he’s been dragged into this whole mess. He signed up for a bowling night with the New Directions on a Friday night, and the next thing he knows, he’s enlisted as a supernatural soldier in the fight against aliens.

He doesn’t even know any of their co-morphers that well. He doesn’t understand what Brittany is saying half of the time and to be frank, Santana scares him a little bit. And yes, sure, he got along just fine with Tina and Sam when they were in the same bowling team, but that doesn’t mean they’ll make good accomplices in the face of a possible apocalypse, right?

Kurt is the only friend he really has in this, and Kurt has five. Maybe that’s why he’s adjusting that much faster. Though, then again, Blaine doesn’t seem to be the only one who isn’t fully on board with this.

“It is a big deal, Kurt,” Tina says. “You can’t just experiment on your own, we need to do this as a team.”

“Well, I didn’t get the memo, okay?” Kurt crosses his arms defensively. “I was up all night and I couldn’t sleep so by the time it got light out and Pavarotti started singing, the idea just came to me. It was a way for me to connect to last night’s events. Besides, don’t tell me you all played with the thought of trying it on your own.”

“But we _didn’t_ , okay?” Santana bites back.

“Actually…” Brittany says, and stops petting Lord Tubbington for a second in favor of screwing her eyes shut in concentration. Her face starts losing contour in a way Blaine recognizes from earlier when Kurt morphed in their dorm room, and her body slowly takes on cat-like features until Lord Tubbington has seemingly been cloned right in front of all of their eyes, still sprawled on the chair all unperturbed and indifferent.

_< I have.>_

Another round of gasps fill the room, as well as a, “Dude, cool,” that’s obviously uttered by Sam.

“Can you only send your thoughts to all of us at the same time or can you communicate with specific people as well?” Kurt asks curiously, and starts nodding after a while, even though Blaine hasn’t heard anything. “Yeah, I need to try that.”

“What on earth…?” Santana mumbles, and for once there’s no snark in any of her features. She just looks down at the two cats in shock. Blaine feels a bit understood, watching her lose her cool like that. It makes her a tiny bit less untouchable.

Tina, on the other hand, suddenly seems intrigued.

“Can you say something for me, too, Brittany?” she asks excitedly, and squeals after a few seconds. “Wow, that is actually pretty impressive. Can you morph for us, Kurt, pleeeaaase?”

_< Yes, Kurt, morph!>_ Brittany joins in.

“Alright, wait a second,” Kurt says, shrugging off his expensive jacket and handing it to Blaine. “Let’s see if I can do this when Pavarotti isn’t right in front of me.”

It takes him a bit longer than earlier, and Blaine can see how much concentration he is pouring into the morphing process. But after about a minute of nothing happening, Kurt starts to shrink, his skin turning from pale to soft yellow as his feathers start growing. His nose and mouth seem to morph into one another before taking on a hard texture and unmistakably forming a beak. His legs get short and stalky, shrinking impossibly fast and making Kurt a tiny little figure on Brittany’s bed. The last thing to change are Kurt’s eyes, the rich blue that Blaine really likes fading away to plain black, the shape shifting to small round dots.

And there’s Pavarotti. Well, Kurt, but… Pavarotti.

Now that the initial shock is gone, Blaine has to admit that watching Kurt morph is actually kind of cool. Weird, and a bit unsettling, but definitely cool.

“Awesome,” Sam breathes out, as Kurt spreads his wings and lifts himself up in the air to show off his flying skills.

Even Santana looks a bit awed now, and Blaine knows they’re all secretly agreeing to being part of this alien-fighting superpower team now.

But even though he’s a bit more on board than he was a few minutes ago, he still eyes Lord Tubbington (the real one) with mistrust. When Kurt morphed, he raised his head in interest, and Blaine really doesn’t want all of this to end with Kurt getting devoured by a chubby feline.

Because no matter what danger humanity is facing, he’s not fighting aliens without his best friend.

_< Don’t look so glum, Blaine,>_ Kurt tells him gently as he comes to rest on Blaine’s shoulder. _< You know you don’t have to participate in any of this if you don’t want to, right?>_

Blaine looks down on his shoulder and glares at Kurt.

Well, he’s not going to let his best friend fight aliens without _him_ , either.

“Do you think I’m just gonna leave you to it?” he asks incredulously. “I don’t like the idea but I’m not gonna stand back and watch you fight evil on your own, you know?”

_< Okay,>_ Kurt says, and Blaine thinks he can hear a smile accompanying Kurt’s thoughts, _< but if you ever feel too uncomfortable, we’ll just take a night off from being heroes and go to the movies instead. Deal?>_

Blaine suddenly wishes birds were more huggable.

“Deal,” he says, and bird Kurt rubs his tiny, fluffy head against Blaine’s ear before hopping off his shoulder and flying up high to hover next to the spider on the ceiling.

_< Still want to try it, Sam?>_ he asks, and Blaine knows that this time everyone can hear him because Tina gets up from the bed and moves to hide behind Santana immediately.

Even Santana looks weary, though. “I thought you wouldn’t touch it even for money,” she mumbles.

_< I think birds think of spiders a lot differently than humans,>_ Kurt says. _< But for your information, I wasn’t going to touch it. I was going to cut the net with my beak to make it fall into Sam’s hand.>_

“Oh god, ew,” Tina whimpers.

Sam just gets up and stretches his hand out.

“Wait, can’t we just all try morphing into Lord Tubbington instead?” Santana asks feebly, and glares down onto the chair suddenly. “No, Brittany, I am _not_ afraid of spiders.”

_< Honestly, I think it would be unwise if we all morphed into the same pet,>_ Kurt says. _< It will be hard enough to hide in plain sight with our real-life doppelgangers running around but our cover will most definitely blow if there’s three or more Lord Tubbingtons loose on the streets.>_

“Just do it, Kurt,” Sam says, rolling his eyes at the others.

Blaine turns around on the bed. He might be convinced to fight alongside these weirdos but he draws the line at spiders.

Tina’s squeak tells him the exact moment when the spider falls from the ceiling, and Santana’s scream the exact moment when it escapes Sam’s hand, followed by the soft sound of paws on the floor and a loud munching sound.

Blaine turns around with a bewildered look on his face.

“Eeeeew,” Tina says. “Lord Tubbington just ate the spider.”

_< No, he didn’t,>_ Brittany says, and tilts her head in confusion from her spot on the floor where she apparently just devoured a large arachnid. _< He’s too lazy for that.>_

“ _You_ just ate the spider,” Blaine breathes out, and can’t help the judgmental look on his face when he stares down at Brittany.

_< What?>_ Brittany says, licking her paws clean. _< I had a small lunch.>_

Blaine hears Kurt’s laughter in his head, and he grins up at Kurt. He doesn’t know how Kurt is having so much fun with this but it’s making him feel a little bit better about everything.

“How do I morph?” Sam asks, looking from Brittany to Kurt and back again. “I touched it, so I should be able to do it now, right?”

_< Concentrate on how it felt in your hand,>_ Brittany says. _< Remember that moment.>_

_< It might help to close your eyes,> _Kurt provides.

“Okay.” Sam takes a deep breath, his eyes falling close in the process, and after only half a minute, his skin starts changing texture.

Blaine shivers as he watches hairs extend from Sam’s arms and four other limbs shoot out of his upper body as his legs get shorter and more crooked. He has to turn away again during the final part of the transformation because while watching Brittany and Kurt transform was almost pleasant in its strange aesthetics, observing Sam turn into a spider isn’t quite as enticing.

_< Try talking,>_ Kurt encourages. _< Form the thought in your head and send it out to everyone.>_

It takes a few seconds but then everyone hears it clearly. _ <Please don’t eat me, Brittany.>_

Brittany laughs in delight. _< Don’t worry, I’m not hungry anymore,>_ she answers.

“You’re actually more in danger of me squishing you to death,” Santana says, sounding as if she’s about to vomit. “That was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever witnessed. And I’ve seen Finn Hudson in his birthday suit.”

_< Hey, leave my brother alone,>_ Kurt says, _< or I’ll poop on your head in true bird fashion.>_

“Guys, there’s three more of us and we don’t have any more animals,” Tina interrupts. “How are we going to learn how to morph?”

Brittany jumps up onto the window sill, and meows loudly.

_< You need to use thought-speak,>_ Kurt reminds her.

She points outside with her left front paw. _< There’s plenty of animals out in the nature, right?>_

Blaine groans. He has a feeling that it’s going to be a long afternoon.

* * *

Catching squirrels with one’s bare hands is, unsurprisingly, a pretty tall order, and Blaine gives up about five minutes into the task, sitting down on the grass in defeat.

_< You know, Blaine, this would have been a lot easier if you had just agreed to turn into that lobworm earlier,>_ Tina says in her newly-acquired frog form whose real-life prototype she had found out by the small pond in Brittany’s garden.

Blaine pouts. “I don’t want my first morph to be a worm,” he mumbles. “It’s just not… cute.”

_< Jesus,>_ Santana comments, and even in thought it still comes out as a drawl, _< one would think we’re having a beauty pageant, you whiny bastard. Stop being a sissy and morph into something.>_

Thankfully, there’s something about her currently being as small as the nail on Blaine’s pinky that makes her less intimidating, and Blaine doesn’t feel uncomfortable giving the ladybug an annoyed eye roll.

“I’m trying, okay? I just don’t like worms… or spiders, sorry, Sam.”

_< It’s fine.>_

“Besides, lobworms will probably be the least helpful out of all these animals, they’re slow as f-“

_< Blaine,>_ Kurt’s voice comes to him, and it seems like Kurt is whispering.

“What?” Blaine whispers back, even though he’s pretty sure that no matter how quiet he is, the others will hear him anyway.

_< Look to your right.>_

He turns slightly to look at what Kurt is talking about, and he spots a hedgehog across the yard. His mouth drops into a silent _oh_. He can totally pull off a hedgehog.

The only question is, really, if he can _catch_ a hedgehog.

“Well, they’re a lot slower than squirrels,” he mutters, not sure if it’s more an encouragement for himself or a just a reply to Kurt’s suggestion, and crawls towards the hedgehog, carefully, lest he scare it and screw his chance to actually get an adorable animal to morph into.

_< Ooooh,>_ Tina says a little sadly. _< I wish I had found a hedgehog.>_

_< Shut up, Ti-ah-na, and look out for your frog prince,>_ Santana tells her.

_< I don’t need a frog prince, I have Mike.>_

_< Really? Does he have a frog fetish? Because if not, I doubt he’ll be your boyfr->_

“Can you just cut it out?” Blaine asks, annoyed, as he slows his movements, getting closer to the hedgehog. “I’m in the middle of something.”

He reaches his hand out but the hedgehog notices, and hurries away.

_< Come on, Blaine, you can do it!>_ Brittany cheers, as Blaine sets off into a sprint after it.

Half a minute and a few droplets of blood later, Blaine is the proud owner of hedgehog-touching memory that he now needs to apply to his first morph.

He’s watched all of his friends do it one by one, so he knows what to do, but while it already took him a lot of time adjusting to the _idea_ of morphing, actually doing it has his heart beating in a much-too-fast rhythm.

_< Relax,>_ Kurt says, and he somehow knows that it’s just for him, that none of the others can hear Kurt. _< Just do it. It’s scary the first time but I’m right here, okay? We’re in this together.>_

If Blaine wasn’t panicking rather seriously, he’d make a joke about Zac Efron.

Instead, he tries to slow his breathing, and listen to Kurt’s advice. _Relax. Just do it._

It doesn’t feel all that unpleasant when it happens. Blaine looks down at his arms and legs and watches them get pulled into his body until they’re just tiny paws coming out of his torso that is starting to cover itself in the same brown and white fur that he already feels on his face. He can feel spikes extracting from his back and he falls forward on his front paws as his body becomes smaller. His vision distorts in front of his eyes, and he knows they’re morphing, too. His nose tingles and extends a little in front of him, while his mouth grows tinier.

He just turned into a hedgehog, and it feels way too real to be a dream.

And even if it was, his friends would have the same one because he’s surrounded by a small-ish zoo.

_< Try sending us your thoughts,>_ Tina says.

Blaine turns to Pavarotti-Kurt.

_< We’re aaaaall in thiiiis together,>_ he thought-sings, or at least tries to, but after the fifth try, Kurt’s giggle tells him he succeeded. _< Thanks to you, that song is now stuck in my head.>_

_< What did he say?>_ Sam asks, confused.

_< He’s being a bitter little hedgehog,>_ Kurt says wryly.

_< But so cuuuute,>_ Tina coos, rubbing her frog body against Blaine’s hedgehog nose.

Blaine hears scoffing but he’s not sure from whom, and it’s followed by a low, almost diabolical chuckle that most definitely belongs to Santana.

_< I think that’s cheating, Tina,>_ she quips, and Tina jumps back immediately, her frog letting out a loud croak.

_< So, we’ve all tried morphing,> _Blaine addresses everyone. _< What comes next?>_

They all share a look in their undoubtedly weird-looking little circle of unlikely animal friends.

_< No idea,>_ the majority of them says in unison.

* * *

They decide on testing out their animal forms for another half hour until Tina reminds them that at least Brittany, Kurt and Sam should change back to human form soon.

_< Remember how Starchild said two hours and no longer?>_ she asks, sounding like a kindergarten teacher.

_< Do we know why, though?>_ Sam asks curiously.

_< After two hours, the morph is permanent,>_ Blaine remembers.

_< Yup,>_ Kurt says, _< and I don’t know about any of you but I personally do not feel like being a bird for the rest of my life. Is there a secluded room I can use to morph back, Brittany?>_

Brittany morphs back right in front of them, her naked body seeming giant to Blaine’s hedgehog eyes.

“Why do you need a room?” she asks, not looking disturbed at all that she’s sitting out in the open in her backyard, her clothes shed next to her and her morphed friends staring at her.

_< Well… that’s why,>_ Kurt says grimly. _< You clearly don’t have the same problem with it that I do, but I’m not going to strip for any of you, okay?>_

_< And I think most of us wouldn’t want to see that, anyway,> _Santana agrees. Blaine feels strangely tempted to argue her on that, but he doesn’t. _< So, Brittany, organize some rooms for us.>_

Five minutes later, Blaine morphs back into his human body in Brittany’s parents’ bedroom, and sighs in relief when he sees his clothes right next to him. He was a little scared they wouldn’t be there. He pulls them on immediately and joins the others in Brittany’s bedroom, where he plumps down on the now vacant armchair. Tina is pulling out a notebook out of her backpack and scanning the most recently filled pages.

Santana peeks over her shoulders.

“Tina Cohen-Chang,” she says, “did you take _notes_ while an alien was giving us instructions on how to save the world?”

“I mean…” Tina blushes. “I didn’t want to forget any of it.”

“That was smart,” Brittany says with a kind smile. “So what does it say?”

“Okay, so I wrote down that those aliens we’re fighting are called… uh, I can’t read my own writing-“

“Yeerks,” Kurt mumbles, coming into the room and dropping down on the armrest to Blaine’s right.

“Right, those… and they’re hard to distinguish from humans because they take human bodies as hosts and control them. What does that mean?”

“Most likely that they force themselves onto humans and learn how to act like them,” Blaine says, a shiver running down his back. “So that means…”

“Everyone is in danger,” Sam finishes for him. “They could be among us already.”

Kurt sighs next to Blaine. “What else is in your notes?” he asks.

“Uhm…” Tina peruses them. “So, Starchild’s alien race is called Andalite, and they’re the Yeerks’ main opponents, apparently. The Andalites have been trying to protect planet Earth for a long time now because it is well-known that the Yeerks have their sights set on humans.”

“Why us?” Santana wants to know.

“Well, it says here that humans are the easiest to access – we don’t have a broad knowledge of life on other planets, we actually _deny_ it and are therefore less prepared for an invasion. And we don’t have any kind of strength that would be useful in a fight against the Yeerks.”

“Are those guys mortal at least?” Sam asks.

“Does she really have to read everything back to you?” Kurt asks incredulously. “Didn’t any of you listen last night?”

“I think they were having a hard time taking everything in,” Tina tries to reason.

“And that’s exactly how this planet is going to go up in smoke,” Kurt retorts. “Nobody pays attention because we’re all too busy denying that extraterrestrial life even exists.” He shakes his head at them. “Starchild did mention that they were mortal but only in their true form.”

“What is their true form?” Santana asks, and tries to find any kind of note in Tina’s book.

“That he didn’t say,” Tina says.

Santana groans. “How very helpful.”

“Hey, the guy was dying,” Blaine relents. “Cut him some slack. We should really figure out what to do next, not argue about details.”

Sam gets up. “Well, we’re like guardians of the earth or something now, right? What else can we do besides keep our eyes out?”

“And there’s a good chance the Yeerks are already controlling humans,” Blaine agrees. “Especially here in Lima because… if the ship landed here, the fight must have taken place in the area, right? I’m with Sam – let’s watch everyone closely and any type of unusual behavior should give us a clue.”

Tina nods. “And I’ll reread my notes and try to find anything else that might seem helpful.”

Blaine kind of wishes they could be more active and gear up, get more morphs, get ready for the seemingly inevitable fight, because it seems even worse to just wait for something to happen, but it does seem more reasonable to stick with investigating more, at least for now. They all agree that it’s their best shot for the time being.

By the time Kurt and he get in Kurt’s car to drive back to Westerville, Blaine is so tired that he starts yawning half a minute into the journey.

“Is it okay if I don’t keep you conscious company all the way?” he mumbles.

“By all means,” Kurt echoes his words from earlier, “you deserve a nap.”

* * *

They make an unspoken pact not to speak about morphing, or aliens, or the apocalypse, for the rest of the night, and watch Moulin Rouge instead, huddled close together on Kurt’s top bunk, both crying their way through Satine coughing up blood and sniffing into their tissues. At least some things in the world are still in order, Blaine thinks.

He sleeps like a log, and it’s probably a good thing aliens came into their life over a weekend because had it been right before a big final exam, Blaine might have sad, “no, thank you” without so much as a single regret. This way, though, he can deal with the problem but still sleep in, and he knows he’ll only wake up once Kurt starts moving around on the top bunk (it squeaks too much not to wake up from it, as much as Kurt tries sometimes because he just naturally wakes up much earlier than Blaine).

However, when Blaine awakes, a glance at the alarm clock tells him it’s already half past eleven.

“Whoa,” he mumbles, stretching his limbs and closing his eyes again.

_< Morning, princess.>_

“Kurt?” he asks groggily, turning onto his side.

_< Yup.>_

“Just a few more minutes.”

_< Okay, I guess I’ll go back to sleep, too.>_

Something unusually rough slides across Blaine’s arm onto his blanket, and he opens an eye confusedly. And closes it again. And opens it quickly.

“OH MY GOD!” he yells at the sight of a snake on his upper body.

_< Sshhhh, shut up, Blaine, it’s me.>_

“You’re a snake,” Blaine utters, voice dropping to a whisper.

_< Jeff was out this morning and I figured I’d… seize the opportunity.>_

“You touched his ball python? Kurt, are you fucking insane?!”

Snake Kurt giggles in response, and Blaine groans.

So watching Moulin Rouge and crying over fictional characters didn’t shift the world back into a normal place after all. Blaine doesn’t know whether to feel sad or excited.

“How did you even get out of the top bunk without me waking up? That’s never happened-“

_< Easy.>_ The snake tils its head. _< I morphed into Pavarotti and flew into the bathroom.>_

“You’re having a lot of fun with this, aren’t you?” Blaine asks, his heart still beating fast from the shock, but he can feel a small grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

But then, all of a sudden, there’s a knock on Blaine’s door and the grin slides off completely. He scrambles into an upright position.

_< Fuck,>_ is all Kurt thinks, or says, or _whatever_ , before gliding off Blaine’s blanket.

“Change back,” Blaine hisses.

_< You know I can’t, I’ll->_

“Just do it, you idiot,” Blaine whispers, before getting up and reaching for the door.

He only opens it slightly so that whoever is behind it won’t immediately see what’s going on in his bed.

“Blaine, are you alright?” Wes asks immediately, pushing himself through the door before Blaine can even try to stop him. “I heard screa- whoa! Uhhh… okay, uhm, hi Kurt…”

Blaine pinches the bridge of his nose as he hears the rustling of sheets, and only turns around when he assumes Kurt is somewhat decent.

Indeed, he is draped across Blaine’s bed with his blanket covering his lower body and half of his chest. At least he looks appropriately flustered, Blaine can’t help but think, and he’s not even going to delve into the part of his brain that wants to save the image for later… or possibly forever.

“Hi, Wes,” Kurt squeaks nervously. “What a lovely Sunday morning, isn’t it?”

“Indeed, lovely.” Wes clears his throat before turning around to Blaine. His eyes wide and alight with mirth, he gives him a subtle smile along with a thumbs up. Blaine wants to die, sort of. “I’ll leave you two to… it.”

Blaine lets his back crash into the door once it’s closed behind Wes.

“Sorry,” Kurt mumbles, sounding guilty enough to Blaine to somewhat appease him. “That was _not_ part of the plan.”

“I sure hope so,” Blaine says, and groans when the full scope of what just happened hits him. “Oh my god, he’s going to tell everyone.”

“Well, it could have gone worse, he could have seen the snake.” Kurt blushes. “The… the ball python, I mean.”

“Jesus, Kurt.”

“I’m really sorry! I was just excited to try out more.” Kurt clears his throat. “And I mean, it’s not like it’s so horrible having everyone think we’re hooking up, right? I mean… we both know there’s more at risk than _that_ …”

“Still, it didn’t actually happen and now everyone thinks it did.”

Kurt sits up in Blaine’s bed, and if Blaine’s eyes linger a little bit longer on his chest than they probably should, he blames his still-sleepy state. Kurt grips the blanket tighter, the expression in his eyes turning into something that Blaine thinks might be… hurt?

“I’m sorry it’s so terrible to be associated with me,” Kurt snaps, and morphs into Pavarotti so quickly Blaine can’t even argue.

“Kurt, that’s not-“

_< Just leave me alone.>_

Blaine bites his lip. That was _not_ supposed to happen. He just doesn’t want any rumors to interfere with-

There’s another knock on his door.

“Wes, please, I assure you we’re not-“

The door flies open.

“No time for games, Blaine,” Santana says, bursting through the door, everything about her body language screaming _upset_ , from her trembling lips to her fumbling hands. “We couldn’t text you, and you live too far away to hear us in morph but-“

_< What happened?>_ Kurt asks immediately, landing on her shoulder.

“It’s Brittany,” Santana breathes out. “She fell asleep and-”

Her quick breath cuts her off, and she doesn’t say anything else. Blaine steers her to his bed.

“Shhh, it’s alright, calm down,” he says. “She fell asleep and…?”

“Not _and_ ,” Santana says, “she fell asleep _while_ …”

“While…?”

_< Oh no,>_ Kurt says, obviously catching on faster than Blaine.

Santana gulps. “She fell asleep while she was still morphed.”

_Oh. Oh, fuck._

“Lord Tubbington?” Blaine asks.

Santana nods.

“And she can’t…?”

Santana shakes her head.

“No,” she breathes out. “She can’t change back.”


	2. The Sharing

Santana leans into Blaine and starts crying.

“She’s g-going to be a s-stupid cat for- forever and I n-never even told her how m-much I l-loved her,” she sobs into his shoulder.

Kurt’s heart breaks for her, and since he finds he can’t actually comfort her well enough as a bird, he quickly flies through the open bathroom door, and morphs back once he’s out of view.

He’s about to pull on his clothes when he realizes that they’re not in the bathroom with him – they’re still in Blaine’s bed. He winces. What a stupid idea to go out on his own and morph into their friend’s snake. Stupid, stupid idea.

Not only did it get him into awkward positions, twice now, no – on top of that he’s almost entirely sure now that Blaine doesn’t find him desirable _at all_.

But that’s beside the point right now. Santana is in pain and needs her friends.

Kurt quickly grabs a towel, wraps it around his waist and hurries back into the room. He sits down on Santana’s other side and leans his forehead against her hair.

“I’m so sorry, Santana,” he says, genuinely feeling for her.

God knows how he would react if Blaine was stuck in his animal form. It pains him to just think of it.

Santana doesn’t say anything. She just keeps crying, Blaine handing her tissue after tissue, until, after about half an hour, there don’t seem to be any tears left in her.

“I don’t know what to do,” she admits. “I found out and I told the others, then I almost texted you but Tina stopped me, and then we tried telling you in morph form but Westerville is so damn far away, so I just broke into a neighbor’s car and came here… I thought you could help but… it’s stupid, isn’t it? None of us can actually _do_ anything, none of us even know how this really _works_.”

Kurt thought about that last part a lot two nights ago when it happened. While Blaine had been sleeping in the bed below him, he had stayed awake, listened to his best friend’s soft breathing, and pondered every single detail of the situation.

For as much information as Starchild had given them – and it wasn’t much, obviously, as they all witnessed his dying breath – he had actually not given them any core details on how to defeat the aliens they will be fighting against, or what those aliens even look like, or how the morphing into animals actually works aside from them absorbing their DNA and copying it in their own cells, or why morphing into animals is such an advantageous power to have in the first place.

He can only hope that evil aliens have a weakness related to animals. Maybe, like the bad guy in _The Mummy_ , they’re deadly afraid of cats. Then maybe, Kurt thinks sadly, Brittany will at least have chosen a useful animal to morph into permanently.

_< Guys, where are you?>_ All three of them lift their heads at Brittany’s voice. _< All of these rooms look the same.>_

“Brittany,” Santana whispers. “What are you doing here?”

There’s no response so they figure Brittany’s still too far away to hear their human voices. Santana gets up to morph but Kurt holds out a hand to stop her.

“Don’t bother,” he tells her. “I’m already naked.”

He cringes as he says it, and stubbornly doesn’t let his gaze wander into Blaine’s direction, but he figures it’ll be better if people don’t find more than just one naked person in Blaine’s bed.

He morphs into his canary form quickly, hoping that his towel doesn’t fall off in the process, which thankfully it doesn’t, and focuses on sending Brittany his thoughts.

_< Hey Britt, we’re on the second floor, right wing, all the way down the corridor, last door to the right.>_

_< Kurt!>_ Brittany sounds happy to hear him. _< Okay, I’ll be right there.>_

_< She doesn’t sound upset,>_ Kurt tells Blaine and Santana, and if birds could frown, his Pavarotti certainly would.

“Oh, no,” Santana mutters grimly. “Forgot to mention that. She’s ecstatic she gets to lead her life as a cat from now on because she claims they have nine, and she’ll outlive all of us.”

“That’s…” Blaine sighs. “That’s not what that saying means, not even to mention the fact that it’s totally false.”

“Try to tell her that,” Santana says sadly.

_< Tell her what?>_ Brittany says as she comes strolling through the open door, stretching her cat limbs and jumping onto Santana’s lap. Santana starts scratching her ears immediately but doesn’t reply.

_< That cats don’t have nine lives,>_ Kurt communicates instead.

_< Oh, I’m aware,>_ Brittany replies easily. _< I only said that because Santana was so upset.>_

Kurt flutters with his wings helplessly. He’s almost glad he can’t cry in his current form.

Santana’s eyes, however, start to well up with new tears.

“I love you, Brittany,” she whispers, and Brittany must say something back to her because a minute later Santana lets out a choked-off sound and hugs the cat on her lap to her chest.

“I should have known you’d sneak into the car,” Santana mumbles and buries her face in Brittany’s fur.

Brittany purrs and licks Santana’s chin.

_< Blaine?>_ Kurt says, using closed thought-speak because he doesn’t want to interrupt the girls.

Instead of answering, Blaine turns to look at him, and Kurt finds it hard, even as a bird, to hold his gaze.

_< My clothes…?>_ he asks shyly.

Blaine nods, a slightly sheepish look in his eyes, and gathers all of Kurt’s belongings from the bed to carry them over to the bathroom.

Kurt follows him and sits down on top of the pile, waiting for Blaine to close the door or go away or something.

“I’m-“ Blaine’s voice is a little scratchy. “I didn’t mean-“

_< It’s fine.>_

“No, it’s-“

_< Blaine, please.>_ Kurt’s tiny heart is hammering against the bird’s ribcage. _< Just forget about it, there’s nothing to talk about. I told you we had bigger problems, didn’t I?>_

Blaine opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out, and it feels good to regain the upper hand in the situation. Maybe he can use this recent development to his advantage and finally get over this stupid crush he’s been harboring. Maybe Blaine and he are just meant to be friends.

“Sorry,” is what Blaine finally says.

Kurt isn’t sure what he is apologizing for – for having upset him? For not having feelings for Kurt? For not letting him change back into his human form by not leaving the bathroom?

_< Can you just close the door, please?>_ Kurt asks.

“Yeah, I just- sorry.”

The door falls shut but Kurt stays a bird for a few seconds longer. He finds it’s easier to clear his head when he is technically still in a different body. Because he really can’t escape the way the human one subconsciously leans into Blaine sometimes, or how it flushes hot every time Blaine hides his face in Kurt’s shoulder when they’re sitting next to each other and giggling at something they’re watching on TV, or how it most definitely can’t resist the shape of Blaine’s legs and behind when he’s wearing his tightest pair of jeans…

It’s probably smart to just bird it out for a bit.

Once he’s sure he can morph back into his body without working himself up into a frenzy, he does. He puts his clothes back on slowly and only braves the room outside when he’s one hundred percent sure that his heart hasn’t broken completely (a few cracks that he should be able to fix over time) and that his breathing is back to normal (he’s done enough yoga in his life to almost be a professional in that regard).

And, anyway, they have bigger things to think about.

When he steps out of the bathroom, he avoids Blaine’s eyes on him and focuses on Santana and Brittany instead.

“I can drive you back to Lima,” he offers. “That way, you can cuddle on the backseat and I can surprise my family with a visit.”

_< Roadtrip!>_ Brittany exclaims excitedly. _< Are you coming, too, Blaine?>_

“Uhm.” Blaine shrugs, glancing at Kurt briefly, obviously trying to figure out if he needs space after what just happened or not. Kurt schools his face into an expression that won’t be easy to read, and he knows it’s working when Blaine sighs and says, “I don’t know…”

_< Pretty pleeeeaaase,>_ Brittany says, carefully climbing from Santana’s lap onto Blaine’s and nudging his chin with her head.

Blaine throws Kurt a helpless look that makes Kurt clench his teeth in frustration.

“Yes, Blaine’s coming, now let’s go,” he says, ignoring Brittany’s cheer. “But,” he holds up his hand, “he’ll be driving Santana’s neighbor’s car because we can’t just leave it here.”

Kurt knows he can’t escape Blaine forever but at least it’ll give him a whole 2-hour ride without having to think about the whole ordeal.

* * *

Unfortunately, the girls aren’t as wrapped up in their cuddling as Kurt would like them to be.

_< Hey, Kurt,>_ Brittany pipes up from the backseat. _< Why were your clothes on Blaine’s bed?>_

“Yeah, Kurt, why?” Santana joins in with a smirk. Kurt doesn’t know if the cuddling is making her happy enough to slip back into her old demeanor or if she’s trying to cover up her deep emotional pain by pestering him, but, either way, Kurt doesn’t see a way to escape her.

He groans in defeat. “Britt, did you send that thought to Blaine as well?”

_< No, I limited it to you two,>_ Brittany replies. _< Why, should I have?>_

“No!” Kurt practically yells.

_< Okay. But… the clothes?>_

“I morphed into our hall neighbor’s snake this morning,” Kurt says with a sigh. “Blaine let out a scream when he saw me and the noise alerted the RA and… well, I had to morph back quickly and leave my clothes in his bed.”

He leaves out the part where the whole corridor might now think they’re an item, and how that thought seems to repulse Blaine beyond words.

_< Oh. So you didn’t have sex?>_

“No.” _I wish_. “Nothing happened.”

_< But why were you in his bed as a snake?>_

Santana snickers. “I bet he wanted to spy on Blaine’s ‘snake’ under the covers,” she tells Brittany.

“Oh my god,” Kurt grits out. “No, that’s not what I was doing. I was… waking him up.”

“Mh-hm.” Santana sounds unconvinced. “And the fact that you have a big, fat crush on him is totally not a part of that little equation, right?”

“I…” Kurt grips the steering wheel tighter. “I don’t have a crush on him.”

“Sure, sure,” Santana says easily and bends forward to hook her chin on the front seat so that her lips are right next to Kurt’s ear. “That’s why you were trying so hard not to act all possessive when frog-Tina was basically animal-smooching hedgehog-Blaine, right?”

“Please shut up,” Kurt begs, cursing the way he still feels stupidly jealous over the way Tina just jumped Blaine and called him cute.

_< So you do have a crush on him?>_ Brittany asks.

“Yes,” Kurt says dejectedly. “But can we just not bring that up anymore? And… don’t tell Blaine, ever. Please. It’s a hopeless crush, he doesn’t like me that way.”

Brittany must say something meant for Santana’s ears only because Santana laughs and says, “I know, Brittany. It’s beyond me, too.”

* * *

On the way to Lima, they struck up a plan to tell everyone, including Brittany’s parents, that Brittany skipped town because she was failing almost all of her classes. It sounds believable enough to them, and the good part is that nobody will ever find Brittany because she’s not actually anywhere to be found. The only trouble will be the double cat but they decide that Santana will try to keep Brittany as an alleged stray cat, so Kurt drops both of them off at Santana’s house.

“Try to get some sleep tonight,” he tells Santana and hugs her. “You too, Brittany, but somehow I have a feeling you’ll be okay.”

Santana carries Brittany to her door and Kurt waits until they’re both inside to drive on. He’s almost out of the street when he realizes that he needs to wait for Blaine, who parked the stolen car two streets down so the neighbor will hopefully think they just misplaced their car.

He waits for about two minutes before there’s a knock on the passenger side window. He reaches over to unlock the door and let Blaine in.

“I feel like a criminal,” Blaine mumbles as he gets in and pulls on his seatbelt.

Kurt hums as he starts the car and gets back on the road.

“Probably good practice for later,” he says. “I doubt we’ll be able to keep on being goody two-shoes forever, what with the looming alien invasion and all.”

He notices out of the corner of his eye that Blaine acknowledges his reply with a nod.

Usually, silence between them just means that they’re comfortable in each other’s presence without feeling the pressure to fill up the voids with talking. But today, it feels awkward, and Kurt reaches for the radio station immediately.

Unfortunately, they both have that idea, and their hands end up touching over the gear shift. Kurt pulls his back like he’s been burned.

Blaine draws his own hand back much more slowly and uses it to run it through his hair.

“Kurt…” he says, voice small and hesitant. “Are you still mad at me?”

Kurt shakes his head. “No.”

_Yes._

_Sort of._

_Mostly I’m mad at myself for liking you so much and not getting over you already._

For the first time, Kurt is glad that he can’t thought-speak in his non-morphed body. He figures that sending a thought inadvertently must be much worse than an accidental text message. Texting at least means that you can claim your friend wrote it or that autocorrect messed it up. No such luck with thought-speak.

On the other hand, not blurting it out means that he gets himself into situations like these when all he can do is deny his misguided crush and pray that he’ll get a minute to himself later so he can cry, which is highly unlikely when the boy of his hopeless dreams is also his roommate and best friend who can always tell when Kurt’s upset.

Which is probably why he’s not fully convinced by Kurt’s answer.

“I just wanted you to know… I mean, actually, I hope that you know already that I really didn’t mean anything by what I said earlier.”

Kurt doesn’t reply, just bites his tongue and holds his breath.

“I just- I thought it might get a little uncomfortable if everyone got on our case about it, you know? But… but it’s fine, I overreacted. Wes will not tell _everyone_ , anyway, probably just a few people who-”

“Can we just move on and pretend it never happened?” Kurt asks with a sigh. He really doesn’t need to know that Blaine’s _still_ worried people are going to find out about it. “I don’t- I don’t really care, Blaine. There are far more important things to think about right now, and you should focus on them and not on…” He hesitates, wants to say _us_ but it doesn’t feel quite right. “This.”

Blaine turns his body to Kurt fully and the sudden attention forces Kurt to return his gaze for a second, even though it makes his insides feel wobbly and weak, before he goes back to concentrating on the road.

“I care about you a lot more than about this stupid alien apocalypse or whatever,” Blaine whispers. “You know that, right?”

Kurt’s heart skips a beat at Blaine’s words and-

“You’re my _best_ friend, Kurt.”

-and tears open a tiny bit more along the cracks that have already been built.

He can’t _make_ Blaine feel anything, of course he can’t. But he’s built up so many expectations, there’s been so much wishful thinking that their friendly banter was actually bordering on more-than-friendly…

He’s made it all up in his head. Blaine and he don’t flirt. End of story.

“You’re my best friend, too,” he whispers back, not letting on how much it hurts him that, in his mind, he has to add the word “only.”

None of them tries to turn on the radio again, the car staying all too silent for the remaining few minutes it takes Kurt to get to the Hummel-Hudson household.

“Do you want me to wait in the car while you go in?” Blaine asks quietly when they’re parked.

Kurt shakes his head. He can do this.

“Don’t be dumb, Blaine. It’ll probably take me way too long and they will all be delighted to see you, anyway.”

“Okay.” Blaine smiles the tiniest of smiles. “If you’re sure.”

“Yes, Blaine, now get out of the car before I change my mind.”

Burt, Carole and Finn are indeed happy to see both of them, hugging them and firing off question about question about school and glee club and life in general. Kurt feels almost relieved when Carole starts gushing about her new recipe book while pulling Kurt into the kitchen so he can help her with dinner while Burt, Finn and Blaine stay behind to talk about football.

“How have you been, Kurt?” Carole asks, quietly, and how she knows that he doesn’t want to discuss these things with everyone at the same time is beyond Kurt. “How’s Dalton treating you?”

“Fine.” Kurt shrugs. “Classes are harder but the kids are nicer.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Carole gives him a sympathetic look. “You still talk to your friends in Lima, though, right?”

“Of course.”

“Well, Finn will probably want to tell you this himself later, but he’s going to organize a big barbeque party for a football after party event next Saturday,” Carole babbles, and Kurt leans back on the counter with a smile. “I’m sure you can come and mingle with all your old friends. It’ll be good for you not to lose touch, you know?”

“Yeah.” Kurt nods. “I’ll think about it and see if I can make it.”

_If I’m not too busy fighting aliens..._

“You should.” Carole smiles widely. “Okay, now, which of these recipes do you think should I try for the barbeque?”

When they’re done perusing the recipe book and fixing dinner, they join the others in the living room and ask them to help set the table. Blaine looks flustered when he realizes he’s invited to dinner and starts spouting off some nonsense about not wanting to intrude but Burt cuts him off immediately.

“Did you think we were going to make you wait in the car while we ate?” he says with a good-natured chuckle. “Come on, Blaine, don’t be so polite. I can see you’re hungry.”

Blaine blushes and thanks him. He shoots Kurt a short apologetic look as if he thinks Kurt will be mad at him for intruding on a family night but Kurt rolls his eyes at him with a smile, hoping that Blaine will understand it’s meant to say that he’s always welcome. No matter how hopelessly unrequited Kurt’s crush is and how little Blaine knows about Kurt’s feelings, he’ll always be there for Blaine, come what may.

“Did mom tell you about the Sharing?” Finn asks when they’re starting to eat, pulling Kurt from his thoughts.

“Uh, the what?”

“That’s the barbeque, honey,” Carole says with a smile, and Kurt nods.

“Yeah, she did. She said it was some kind of after party…?”

Finn nods. “Yeah, we have a football game next week and Coach Beiste said that, as the quarterback, I should organize some kind of event, and I thought in the summer it would be nice to have a barbeque with everyone. Mr. Shue said it was a good idea, too, and he’s going to help me with the set-up.” He smiles. “Oh, and you’re invited, of course! You too, Blaine. It’s not just for footballers.”

“Why is it called the Sharing?” Blaine asks.

“Uhm, well,” Finn mumbles around a forkful of food, “everybody’s bringing something to eat or to drink and everyone shares. That was Quinn’s idea, actually, some of the cheerleaders helped me organize it.”

Kurt smiles faintly. It does all sound a bit too Christian to be an original Finn Hudson idea.

“We’ll see if we can make it,” he promises his brother who smiles at him brightly.

It’s nice to see Finn so enthusiastic about something. He knows Rachel and he broke up, so it’s highly probable he’s throwing himself at any chance of a distraction, but it’s surprising to see him doing so well. He wonders how Rachel is taking the whole thing, and gets a bit nostalgic about the Glee club drama… Dalton just isn’t the same.

He kind of misses living in Lima, in this house especially, and he feels like his father knows what’s going on when throws him an understanding look.

But, thankfully, he doesn’t comment on Kurt’s sudden mood change because Carole starts asking them a million questions about the Warblers that keep their attention otherwise occupied.

* * *

They agree to meet at Dalton on Tuesday because Kurt and Blaine can’t drive out to Lima during the week – their school schedules just don’t match up, and they don’t have the parental units to worry about like the others.

“I was thinking,” Tina announces. “That we should take a look at the construction site where we met Starchild to look for clues.”

Kurt almost facepalms. Why didn’t he think of that earlier?

“Actually, I already went,” Sam says. “The day after. It- I’m sorry, guys, but there’s nothing left.”

“Oh.” Kurt frowns. “Nothing at all?”

“Yeah.” Sam nods. “No Starchild, no ship, nothing.”

“Who could have cleaned that up?” Blaine asks.

“Yeah, who…?” Santana says sarcastically. “Could it be the evil aliens who are roaming the earth in search of human hosts? Could they be covering their traces? Surely not…”

She’s sitting on Kurt’s desk with Brittany on her lap and sticks out her tongue at Blaine when he glares at her.

Tina rolls her eyes. “I still think we should go. Maybe they forgot something.”

“I’m with Tina,” Kurt says. “That’s the best shot we have right now, otherwise we’ll never get closer to getting any information.”

Nobody is actually against the idea so Tina writes it down as officially agreed on. Even though they have all agreed that they should burn all the traces of her notebook after each meeting, she still writes everything down first, claiming that it helps her focus.

“We also need to talk about what to tell our families and friends,” she says. “I can’t keep lying to Mike about having to spend the day with my parents, he knows they’re not _that_ attentive.”

“Well, I told my parents I’m playing video games with my friends,” Sam provides. “It’s the closest thing to the truth I could think of.”

Kurt chuckles. “Well, this is hardly a video game but I agree. Why go for the blatant lie? Just tell Mike you joined a geek life club or something. I mean, this is kind of geeky.”

“I don’t know,” Tina says, looking uncertain. “He might want to join if I tell him that.”

_< Ballet?>_ Brittany suggests.

“He’s a dancer, Britt.” Tina hangs her head. “Oh god, I’ll have to break up with him, won’t I?”

Kurt grimaces. It _is_ the easiest solution, hands down. But he doesn’t want to say it and upset her even further. He sighs, leaning back on his chair and glancing at everyone in the round to see if anyone else has any suggestions.

“Isn’t there _anything_ that you like to do and he doesn’t?” Blaine asks, patting Tina’s knee.

Tina shakes her head sadly. “No… that’s why I like him so much, you know?”

Everyone is silent for a while. Kurt pulls his lips in and bites down on them in thought.

“You know,” he says. “You could continue telling him that you’re doing stuff with your parents for now and keep the break-up in mind as a last-minute solution, okay? No need to take drastic measures right away.”

Tina nods and exhales shakily.

“Anyone else having trouble telling their friends and families what they’re up to?” Kurt asks into the round.

Sam shakes his head no, as does Blaine. Brittany just meows as a way of demonstrating she’s most definitely covered, and Tina’s case has just been discussed. Kurt himself is fine as long as nobody catches him snooping around in Lima without a good excuse.

Santana raises her hand. “Actually… it’s not my family or anything but the cheerleaders are pretty insistent that I go to this stupid barbeque thingy on Saturday because apparently it’s the greatest invention since Breadstix or whatever. I’ve told them I’ll be busy looking for Brittany and stuff – that’s my current excuse for this, pretty smart, right? – but they keep telling me it’ll be a good distraction.”

“Barbeque?” Kurt asks. “You mean the Sharing?”

“Yeah.” Santana rolls her eyes. “Doesn’t that just sound like the lamest thing ever?”

Sam clears his throat. “I was thinking of going. I mean, the whole team is going to be there. And, uhm… there’s free food, you know?”

“Mike’s going, too, and he asked me to come,” Tina said. “I thought it was something the Asian student club organized but maybe Mike just forgot to mention that it’s a football thing...”

“Yeah, Finn actually organized it as a football after party,” Kurt says, “Carole said she wanted to bring something, and Finn invited Blaine and me, so I think families and friends are welcome as well.”

“Like I said,” Santana quips, “laaaaaame.”

“But couldn’t we use that to our advantage?” Blaine suddenly asks. “Some of us should go to make an appearance while the others check the construction site. If half the town is going to be there, the area should be more or less deserted, right?”

_< I like that plan,>_ Brittany says. _< But if I’m not going to be on the barbeque squad, I want someone to save me a cheeseburger.>_

They debate the pros and cons of the plan but in the end, they decide that Tina and Sam will go to the party because they both want to go and that the rest of them will check the construction site for any remaining clues.

* * *

All week, Kurt isn’t able to concentrate on his classes, and while it isn’t actually possible to tell his teachers that he was too busy practicing his morphing to focus on his homework, he still tells them he was distracted for personal reasons, which almost all of them let through on the nod.

Come Friday, Kurt is buzzing with restless energy. He practices morphing back and forth without abandon in the small dorm bathroom that night, cheering every time he manages to do it a bit faster than the previous time. He knows Blaine has been practicing, too, but he still doesn’t seem to be as eager to improve as Kurt.

Kurt doesn’t know why but he somehow feels like he has found a purpose, and while he feels bad that Blaine doesn’t seem to be as happy about it as Kurt, he still can’t help the giddy excitement that comes with morphing.

Besides, he doesn’t want to cut Blaine too much slack after what happened last week. Sure, he gave up on actually being mad but he’s still somewhat affronted that Blaine was so opposed to the very _idea_ of them being considered an item that seeing him suffer a bit is almost… rewarding.

Almost. Kurt isn’t a monster. Which is why he brings his roommate a cup of steaming hot cocoa from the cafeteria on Saturday morning when Blaine is too tired to get up for breakfast. He has Wes and David in tow, who kept him company when he showed up in the dining hall alone, and insist on walking Kurt to his room.

Kurt suspects they want to check up on his relationship with Blaine, and he begrudgingly has to admit that Blaine might be right with the added inconvenience this might mean for them – they’re left alone most of the time but with the right gossip, the whole hall might wait to catch them in a compromising position. And while that in itself is a bit inappropriate, it’ll be even worse if they catch either of them morphing.

He hates to have to give Blaine the benefit of the doubt, though. On top of not returning his feelings, Blaine had to be right about this, too?!

And apparently he _is_ right, because Kurt doesn’t miss the way Wes and David watch him closely as he sets down the cocoa on Blaine’s bedside table and gently shakes Blaine awake.

“Blaine, wake up, Wes and David are here, and we need to get going soon.”

“What?” Blaine mumbles. “Oh. Yeah, I’m up, I’m up… hi, guys.”

“Hi, how’s life?” David asks him with a wink.

Kurt suppresses a groan and busies himself with tidying his desk while Blaine continues making small talk with their friends.

They’re five minutes into talking when Wes asks, “So, what are you doing later?”

“Oh, we’re driving out to Lima,” Blaine says. “We’re-“

“Are you going to the Sharing?” David asks excitedly.

Kurt blinks confusedly and turns to face them.

“You know of the Sharing?” he asks.

Wes smiles at him. “Who _doesn’t_ know about it? Everyone’s been talking about the Sharing for weeks.”

“But isn’t it a McKinley thing?” Blaine asks, sharing a worried look with Kurt. Kurt knows what he’s thinking; the more people they know go, the harder it will be to make up excuses for not making an appearance. “It’s a McKinley football game, right?”

“Oh,” David says, looking a bit taken aback. “Actually, I think it’s more of a region-wide event. I mean, my little sister invited me and she goes to Crawford County Day.”

Kurt’s brain feels like it’s on fire. He’s trying to think, but he’s sure he’s missing something…

“Huh, oh well,” Blaine says, getting up with a shrug. “Would you excuse me for a second while I take a shower? I’ll be quick, I promise.”

Wes and David nod and sit down on his bed patiently as Blaine locks the door to the bathroom behind him. A few seconds later, the water is turned on in the shower, and Wes and David apparently take it as their cue to turn their heads to Kurt with curious smiles on their faces.

“So…” David lingers on the word a bit too long for Kurt’s liking. “You and Blaine…?”

“What about him?” Kurt asks, squinting at him, wondering if Blaine left on purpose to make him deal with their nosy friends on his own. But Blaine wouldn’t do that… right?

“Are you…” David trails off with a grin. “You know?”

“If you’re waiting for me to finish that question, you’re out of luck.” Kurt crosses his arms. “Ask what you want but don’t expect me to read your mind.”

Wes elbows David. “He’s being an idiot. We’re just happy for you… I mean, if there’s anything to be happy for.”

Kurt glares at him. “There’s not.”

“Oh.” Wes actually looks sad, and Kurt suppresses a smile at the thought that at least other people are seeing the chemistry, even if Blaine apparently isn’t. “But you were in his bed. Naked. So… what was that all about?”

It would be so easy to just tell them that they’re dating, or hooking up, or that they decided to be friends with benefits. But since Blaine cares about his friends’ opinion so much, Kurt’s not going to do it the easy way. After all, Kurt was the one to be reckless enough to morph in their room with the door unlocked, so he is going to take the punch.

“Actually, Blaine walked in on me, uhm… well…”

Understanding dawns on Wes’ and David’s face, and they both have the decency to look embarrassed – if for themselves or for Kurt, he doesn’t know, but at least he got that little problem out of the way.

“Kurt… on _his_ _bed_?” David asks, looking a little scandalized. “Why didn’t you just use yours…?”

Kurt frowns. He has the top bunk, how would that change anything about- oh.

“Changing!” he exclaims, face burning. “Blaine walked in on me changing!”

“Oooh, wow.” David laughs. “Sorry, dude.”

Kurt just shakes his head at him. Wow indeed. Good that he cleared that up in time. That would’ve been an insanely embarrassing rumor to go around Dalton.

He’s about to just change the topic and talk about their next Warblers practice when Blaine’s morph voice comes through to him.

_< Kurt, get Wes and David out of the room.>_

Kurt freezes. If Blaine’s tone was gentler, he’d assume his roommate forgot to bring a change of clothes to the bathroom (and he wouldn’t let him live that one down) but the urgency in Blaine’s voice makes him suspect something is majorly wrong.

Kurt jumps to his feet and decides to take his cover up a notch.

“Wait a second!” he yells at Wes, making both boys jump a little on the bed. “If David knows, does that that mean you’ve been telling people that Blaine and I are having sex?!”

It’s a shot in the dark – David might just be very attentive, and Wes could very well just have told people that they’re dating – but Wes blushes to the roots of his hair and looks so very much like a deer caught in headlights that Kurt knows he’s actually bang on target.

“Kurt, I, uh… I didn’t mean-” Wes stutters. “I just told a few-”

“Out of my room!” Kurt screeches, not even having to act. After all, Wes is the reason he’s sort of on the rocks with Blaine, and on top of that, he betrayed their trust both as their friends and as the RA of the hall. “I can’t believe you, Wes! Just get out! Both of you!”

David and Wes actually back away from Kurt as quickly as physically possible, both muttering apologies, but Kurt’s so worked up now that only another squint of his eyes makes them take off towards the hall, not even looking back.

Kurt sighs.

“All cleared,” he tells Blaine, and a second later, Blaine comes out of the bathroom, pants on and struggling to get into his shirt.

Kurt can see the same urgency in his eyes that was in his voice, so he doesn’t even hesitate to reach out his hand to help Blaine yank his shirt all the way down to his hips.

“Kurt,” he pants. “The Sharing! Finn organized it, right? Now, I don’t know Finn as well as you do but… from what you told me, he’d be pretty lost organizing this whole thing on his own, especially if half Ohio was coming to the event, right?”

Kurt blinks. “Yeah, he’d usually call me for help, I guess.”

“Exactly.” Blaine reaches for his belt and smashes it through the loops quickly. “This can’t be just a football after party, Kurt. Everyone’s got different information! Remember how Mike invited Tina and she thought it was a get-together for the Asian club? And we got invited as friends and family of the footballers? And Santana has almost been begged to attend by all the cheerleaders? And now Wes and David are saying that everyone in the region is invited? Why would Finn throw a party that David’s sister is invited to? It doesn’t add up, does it?”

“Blaine…” Kurt tries to still Blaine’s wild gestures with his hands. “So you think this has something to do with the aliens?”

“It’s a gathering, Kurt, it’s a…” Blaine struggles for words until he apparently finds one, and looks up with sad eyes. “Kurt, I think it’s a recruiting party for potential hosts.”

* * *

As soon as Kurt realizes that his family and friends are in imminent, tangible danger, he’s a tad too frantic to drive so they decide to take Blaine’s car. Kurt can’t stop spouting off theory after theory what this might all be about and he’s well into his fifteenth idea when Blaine interrupts him.

“Hey, Kurt, hey,” he says, letting his right hand glide off the steering wheel to grasp Kurt’s left. “Calm down, you’re not going to help anyone in this state.”

“But, Blaine, Finn organized this, what if he’s already- oh god, that must be it, though, he’s been taken, he’s… fuck, I can’t breathe-”

The hand around his grips tighter.

“Please calm down, Kurt. We’ll find a way, I promise.”

“What if-”

“Whatever’s happening, speculating won’t help. We need to be _there_ to figure out what’s up, and I can’t let you go near there if there’s a chance you’re going to run off in a panic and get yourself hurt, okay?”

Kurt has to admit Blaine’s right yet again, and he spends the rest of the drive biting the inside of his cheek instead, faintly appreciating the effort Blaine is making when he turns up the radio to sing along but frowning when the radio host makes a public announcement about the Sharing and urges everyone to go. Apparently, it’s gone from a simple barbeque party to something to the extent of a state fair.

“They really outdid themselves with the advertising,” Kurt says, losing more and more hope that his brother has still remained untouched by the Yeerks. He bites down on his cheek harder.

There’s a traffic jam as soon as they reach the outskirts of Lima. Apparently, the whole region wasn’t only invited – the whole region also decided to actually show up.

“Oh god, this is insane,” Kurt moans. “We need to go faster…”

Blaine raps his fingers on his leg impatiently.

“I think we might be faster if we run,” he says suddenly.

“Won’t we look a bit suspicious?” Kurt asks cautiously. “Besides, I’m a terrible runner…”

Blaine shakes his head.

“No, Kurt, look,” he says pointing out of the window to a lady walking a bunch of dogs. “What if we _run_?”

“Good thinking,” Kurt breathes out. “Can you park the car somewhere?”

“I’ll just leave it here.” Blaine waves a dismissive hand. “It’ll block the others, that way it might even save a few lives. Plus, there’s more important things in the world than my Prius…”

They climb out of the car simultaneously, ignoring the angry honking when they leave the car in the middle of the street.

Once they reach the sidewalk, Blaine approaches the dog-walking lady with a shy, “Hi, ma’am, your dogs are so gorgeous, may we pet them?”

She seems delighted at the request, so Blaine crouches down next to the cute Golden Retriever and scratches his neck while Kurt picks the one in the mix that looks like the fastest – a Windhound.

As soon as they have the DNA safely secured in their fingertips, the two jog off with a quick “thanks” and start looking for a secluded place to morph in.

Kurt points to a gas station. “They’ll have a bathroom, right?”

There is a bathroom, and under normal circumstances Kurt couldn’t be bothered to use it, ever, but this is urgent. Blaine mans the door for him after Kurt morphs into the Windhound, perfectly shielded from view because the bathroom is on the backside of the building, and holds the door open for Blaine by blocking it slightly with his dog body so that Blaine can morph into the Golden Retriever just as subtly.

Once they’re done, they make their way towards Lima Heights Adjacent, running as fast as their canine legs allow. Kurt notices the dog part of his morph really loves running, which makes the rather long way a lot more enjoyable than he anticipated.

_< Santana, Brittany, are you ready?>_ Blaine tries to signal their friends as soon as they hit the right street.

At first, Kurt thinks they’re still too far away for the girls to hear it but then Brittany’s voice greets both of them.

_< You were fast, did you fly?>_

_< No, we’re running and we really need to get to the barbeque _right _now! > _Kurt says desperately.

_< Why?>_ Brittany asks, evidently confused. _< I thought we were in the construction site squad.>_

_< Change of plan: We need to go to the Sharing,> _Kurt sends through. _< We suspect it might be a Yeerks gathering.>_

When the reply comes, it’s in Santana’s morph voice.

_< We’re waiting at my front door.>_

They reach it about half a minute later, and Santana has apparently picked up a new animal as well because instead of the ladybug, a furry black cat is awaiting them next to Brittany’s Lord Tubbington clone.

She explains it’s her grandma’s cat and Brittany makes a comment on how it’s great for them to have an animal type to share but neither Kurt nor Blaine question what exactly it’s great for. Frankly, they don’t really need to ask, and their thoughts are occupied by more pressing matters anyway.

_< So they’re throwing a barbeque party for their victims?>_ Santana asks when Kurt and Blaine give a quick overview of what they think is happening at the football field. _ <That’s not very… menacing, is it?>_

_< Well, that’s what they _say _it is to get everyone to come, >_ Blaine interjects. _< Who in their right mind would accept an invitation to a human vessel auction?>_

As soon as they reach the McKinley school complex, they try reaching Tina and Sam via thought, hoping that they might hear them wherever they are, because the rapidly filling football field is going to be hard to search thoroughly later on.

_< Sam, Tina, can you hear us?>_ Brittany asks, thought-speak open for everyone in their group.

They keep repeating their messages for a few minutes, each roaming the school compound on their own so as to not raise any suspicion at the sight of four pets running around together, until finally Tina’s voice rings back to all of them.

_< Guys, what are you doing here?>_ she asks. _< I barely managed to sneak away and morph, I hope this is important.>_

_< Actually, I’m glad you’re all here,> _Sam pipes up, _ <because this party is about to go down, and by down I mean to some underground lab or something.>_

_< I beg your pardon?> _Kurt asks.

_< Let’s meet somewhere in the building,>_ Sam suggests.

_< The auditorium,>_ Tina says at once. _< Nobody will be there at this time and it’s dark enough for us to hide in a corner if someone does come in.>_

* * *

Thankfully, the building does seem more or less deserted because everyone is outside setting things up for the Sharing, and even if someone sees them, they’ll probably assume they’re meeting for a Glee club assignment since they’ve all morphed back into human form (safe for Brittany, who’s being carried by Santana).

“Alright, Sam, talk,” Kurt demands impatiently once they’ve made sure they’re alone.

“Okay, so… guys, this is all really weird I don’t really know what’s going on but, you know how Puck always spikes the punch at parties?”

They all nod.

“Well, I figured he might do the same with the punch they served in the locker room we all met in. I stayed away from it because I knew I was going to have to be sober in case something happened. I don’t think anyone noticed but, yeah, I think most of the guys on our team had some and about half an hour later I notice that they’re all missing. Weird, right? So I go looking for them and I see Artie’s wheelchair outside the big secluded pavilion they’re using to store the beverages for the party, but Artie’s, like, not in it.”

“Artie’s gone?” Tina asks, her face going pale.

“Yes, well- no.” Sam waves a hand to dismiss any questions for the time being. “I got out of sight and I morphed and then I sneaked into the pavilion to check what was going on and there’s the whole football team, more or less unconscious, on those stretchers they use in ambulances and stuff.”

Tina gasps, and everyone can read the pain on her face – Mike’s a football player, too. Her mouth starts quivering, and Brittany hops from Santana’s lap into hers to rub her fur against Tina’s body soothingly.

“The whole team?” Kurt whispers, closing his eyes in dread. “Was… was Finn one of them?”

Sam ducks his head when he continues, “Kurt, I… I think Finn is the one who’s taking them. Puck, too, actually – I think he didn’t just spike the punch, it must be roofies or something.”

_I was right… this isn’t happening._

Kurt hears his own sob more than he actually feels it, and Blaine’s hand comes to rest on the small of his back, which Kurt immediately leans into for comfort.

“You mean they’re being controlled already?” Blaine asks, voice shaking.

Sam nods, then shakes his head. “I don’t know, man, I don’t know how this shit works.”

“Wait, you said something about the party moving underground,” Santana says. “What does that mean?”

“Well, I was still in the room as a spider when Finn and Puck came in, and Finn told Puck to bring them ‘downstairs,’ whatever the hell that means, to give them to their new owners.”

“What did they sound like?” Kurt asks feebly.

“They sounded like… themselves,” Sam says, and gives Kurt a helpless shrug. “But they couldn’t be, right? I mean… it was really creepy, that could never be Puck and Finn… right?”

Kurt doesn’t have an answer to that, he just feels the world crumble bit by bit. Was Finn already controlled last weekend when they had dinner? All the laughs they shared and the amicable conversation, it had been like having Finn around, surely it couldn’t be an alien imitating his brother that well…?

“Downstairs…” Tina mumbles after a beat of silence, seeming to have regained control of her breathing. “That doesn’t make any sense. McKinley doesn’t even have a basement. And how would Puck even get a whole team of unconscious football players out of that pavilion without anyone noticing?”

Sam shrugs. “I left the tent right after I overheard them because you guys arrived.”

“You didn’t track them?” Santana asks incredulously. “Come on…”

“No, I- I figured you guys should know what’s happening first,” Sam says, looking into the round for approval.

“That was smart, Sam,” Blaine says at once, giving Santana a warning look. “We shouldn’t go on missions alone, even if the situation is a bit dubious.”

Kurt knows the statement isn’t just for Sam. He knows Blaine is trying to get this through to him, too, because either he can read minds or he just knows Kurt well enough by now to know Kurt is already trying to conjure up a plan to find out what’s happening to Finn and how to save him.

“Well, I say we all decide now to send someone to track their moves,” Santana says, unimpressed by Blaine’s interjection. “We need to know where they go and what they do with them.”

“No, we can’t do that yet, Santana-“

“Who died and made you captain, Blaine?” she retorts. “There is-”

“I’ll go,” Kurt cuts in. “I’ll do it.”

“Kurt, no.” Blaine turns to him with a horrified look on his face. “You’re not equipped to-”

“I _am_ equipped,” Kurt insists energetically. “Starchild gave us morph powers so that we could _use_ them, and not sit it out and see if the problem solves itself.”

“ _Please_ ,” Blaine begs. “You’re gonna-”

“I’m not going to get myself hurt,” Kurt replies firmly. “I promise.”

“What’s your plan, Kurt?” Tina asks.

Kurt takes a deep breath. It’s not so much a plan as an idea of a plan – but he’ll make it work. He _has_ to make it work.

“I’m going to spy on the aliens that are possessing Finn and Puck and see what kind of information I can get. And if I find out where they bring the,” he gulps, “the, um, vessels, I’ll sneak in after them and see if I can find out how the Yeerks take control of them.”

“Okay, let’s put it to a vote,” Tina decides. “All in favor of Kurt executing his plan?”

Kurt’s hand shoots up, as well as Santana’s, Tina’s and Sam’s, and Brittany raises her paw.

“Objections?” Tina asks.

Blaine raises his hand. “I don’t think it’s safe,” he says.

“Nothing is safe anymore, Blaine,” Santana argues. “Kurt’s right, we can’t sit around forever.”

“Let me do it then,” Blaine says, turning to Kurt. “I’m less emotionally involved…”

Kurt is faintly aware of his quickening heartbeat at how obvious it is that Blaine can’t stand to see him get hurt but that’s one of the reasons he still shakes his head at his request. Blaine _is_ emotionally invested – if not in Finn, then in Kurt – in a way. Besides…

“Your morphs are a dog and a hedgehog, Blaine,” he says. “One is too large not to be noticed and the other’s too slow in case you get caught. You should go to the construction site and take care of our other mission. I’ll be fine.”

“But-”

“I just want to find out what’s happening. That’s what I’m going to do. I promise you I’m not going to fight or try to sacrifice myself for my brother or something. Okay?”

His plan seems to finally resonate with Blaine because he takes a deep breath and nods.

“Okay,” he says. “You promise not to put yourself in danger?”

“I promise,” Kurt tells him, putting as much finality in his voice as he can.

After all, he’s not stupid. He knows he can’t fight aliens as a canary or a snake, they’ll need bigger and more dangerous animals for that. But that’s a plan they should forge out later. For now, he’ll spy.

It seems as if everyone’s on board with the plan now. They decide that Tina and Sam should still keep up appearances and check if there’s any unusual behavior among their friends, and Blaine, Santana and Brittany will still go to the construction site.

When it’s all settled, Kurt starts to morph into Pavarotti right away.

_< Don’t forget,>_ Brittany says, gesturing to herself, _< that you can only stay in your morph for two hours.>_

_< I won’t,>_ Kurt says as soon as the morph’s complete, ready to fly out on his mission.

* * *

It doesn’t take him long to find Finn and Puck as they’re both sitting on the steps of one of McKinley back entrances. To any passerby, it would look like they’re two friends hanging out but Kurt has been sitting on the window sill above them long enough to catch some suspicious phrases that leave no doubt in Kurt’s mind that they’re being controlled.

“It’s almost time,” Puck said at one point, and Finn replied with, “No, not yet. The boss said to wait until the last one’s out.”

“Let’s hope they hurry.” Puck again. “I need to charge.”

That was five minutes ago, and as nothing else has happened since then, Kurt’s getting kind of anxious. He’s staying calm, though, even as he observes his brother in his eerily natural fashion that is not at all natural because an alien is controlling his mind. He promised to stay calm.

As if reading his mind, Blaine sends through, _< Kurt, can you still hear me?>_

Kurt misses the eye rolling that comes so naturally with being human.

_< Yes,>_ he says, _< as I did the four previous times you asked me.>_

_< Sorry.>_ There’s something apprehensive in Blaine’s voice, and it’s so endearing Kurt can’t be mad at him for disrupting his mission for the fifth time. _< I’m just… testing the range.>_

_< No, you’re not.> _Something about not having to look in Blaine’s eyes while they talk is making Kurt a little bit bold, or maybe it’s the fact that Blaine actually seems to be worried sick about him – it makes Kurt feel like maybe, just maybe, his crush isn’t so misguided after all, or like at least Blaine genuinely cares about him enough to look past that. _< You’re checking up on me to make sure I’m still safe.>_

_<... yeah. That, too. >_

_< Blaine,> _Kurt says fondly.

_< What?>_

_< I’m fine.> _He pictures Blaine looking back to the school compound as his delegation is leaving to check out the construction site. It’s probably not far from the truth. _ <I’ll _be _fine. I promise. >_

_< Just get back in one piece, please.>_

_< I will.>_

Kurt peers down to Puck and Finn and notices that there are two people coming out of the building. One of them is Dave Karofsky – Kurt’s tempted to poop on his head but he’ll save that one for when the guy is back to being just a regular asshole and not the alien-controlled kind – and the other one is, to Kurt’s surprise, not a footballer. It’s Jacob Ben Israel.

_< Gotta go, Blaine,>_ Kurt says as he watches Finn and Puck rise from the stairs and Puck grab Jacob by the front of his shirt before throwing him on the ground in one swift move.

_< Just be careful, okay?>_ Blaine’s voice rings through again.

_< Yes, yes,>_ Kurt says distractedly, trying to make sense of what he’s witnessing. _< Now go. I’ll see you later.>_

Finn seems confused by the scene as well but it’s Karofsky who finally puts a hand on Puck’s arm to stop him from beating up Jacob.

“Don’t,” he says. “He’s one of us.”

“He wasn’t in the batch I sent down,” Puck replies.

“Yeah, but the boss said he was caught rummaging through the tent,” Karofsky explains with a grin. Kurt assumes the tent might be the one where Sam saw them keep the football team. “So we decided to teach him a lesson.”

“Okay, then,” Finn says impatiently. “Were you the last two? We’re not allowed to go unless the last one’s up.”

“Yes, we were last,” Jacob says, standing up and dusting off his pants. Kurt notices a small object on the ground where Jacob was just pushed down but he can’t see what it is. Maybe it’ll be important. “We’ll take over, you can go.”

Kurt curses to himself. He can’t go after Finn and Puck if those two morons don’t move – which is exactly what they’re doing, sitting down and keeping watch or whatever it is they’re doing, and Kurt can’t get passed them without getting noticed, not even in his bird form – and he can’t check out the object that must have fallen out of Jacob’s pocket either.

By the time he gets an idea, it is most definitely too late to follow Finn and Puck, but maybe not too late to check out Jacob’s belonging that thankfully neither Karofsky nor Jacob seem to have noticed lying on the ground next to the steps.

He just hopes that whatever it is will prove to be somewhat useful because otherwise, he’ll have to wait for the next time somebody heads down to wherever they are taking the drugged hosts.

_< Sam, Tina,>_ he sends out, _< can either of you cause a bit of a commotion, preferably somewhere near the back entrance of the school?>_

It takes a while for him to get an answer but he knows they need time to get away and morph, so he just waits it out.

_< On it,>_ Sam replies after about four minutes. _< I knew a spider would turn out to be a useful morph.>_

_< Oh my god, be careful, though,> _Kurt says. _ <You’re very easy to kill, remember that.>_

_< Don’t worry,> _Sam says confidently. _ <Tina is going to be my ‘victim.’>_

About five seconds later, a high scream erupts around the corner of the building followed by a round of shouts. Kurt flies a bit higher and around the corner to see what’s happening – Tina is looking down at her arm in horror and stretching it out for people to see, which makes everyone in her vicinity back away and yell at her. By the time, somebody tries to catch the spider, Sam has already crawled to safety – under Tina’s shirt.

_< Not gonna lie, your boobs are pretty epic from this perspective.>_

Kurt watches from afar as Tina wrinkles her nose, though she continues her act and screams that she must have dropped the spider, which makes everyone get even more panicked.

He looks back to the entrance he was observing, where Karofsky and Jacob are getting up to walk around the corner to see what’s happening.

_< Great job, you guys!>_ he gushes. _< Now please make sure Karofsky and Jacob stay where they are for a while so that I can check out this thing I found.>_

He flies down to the ground and lands next to the steps. Now that he’s closer, he can see that the object is Jacob’s video camera.

_Jackpot_ , he thinks, and morphs back to his human form right next to the steps, crouching down immediately so that nobody will be confused by a naked guy behind the building. As he pulls on his clothes and grabs the camera, he hopes for the first time that Jacob’s career as a journalist isn’t entirely based on wishful thinking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who's commented, kudo'ed (is that a word?) or helped to spread the word on Tumblr. You guys rock! ♥
> 
> Little side note as far as updating goes: I try to stick to a once-per-week schedule (no specific day for now because my schedules are kinda all over the place at the moment) but I might take a little while longer than that with the next one just to make sure the plot points all add up with the later parts! But don't worry, I'm as eager to get this out as you (hopefully) are to read it, so I'll be back with more soon. :)


	3. A Trip to the Zoo

Blaine isn’t focused at all, and that’s how he finds himself staring at the same patch of dirt for about five minutes without moving.

_< Did you lose your brain while morphing?>_ Santana hisses while walking past him with a matching cat bitch glare. _< I mean, I know dogs are supposed to be dumber than cats but this…?>_

_< Leave Blaine alone, I think he’s sad,>_ Brittany reprimands her girlfriend calmly as she peruses her part of the construction site, her nose deep on the ground and actually looking more like a dog than a cat in that position.

_< You don’t say, Brittany…> _Santana’s words are accompanied by a scoff as she throws Blaine a last look and lets her shiny black tail glide over his face, slowly and entirely on purpose.

Blaine shakes himself out of his thoughts and lowers his own tail, which he has found to be the perfect dog equivalent to despondence. He doesn’t respond to either of their comments and just finds a new spot to brush his paws over in hope to find a clue of any kind.

He knows he should concentrate on the job but his thoughts keep wandering back to Kurt. Even though he promised to be fine, Blaine can’t help but fear that the meeting in the auditorium is the last he will have seen of Kurt because he’ll get stuck in his morph form, or get killed, or controlled by an alien, in which case he’ll see Kurt but not _Kurt_ – Blaine’s brain is a mess of thoughts regarding his best friend and he can’t seem to do anything to stop fussing.

They keep going at it for another hour or so before they finally have to admit that Sam was absolutely right – there’s not a trace of any terrestrial existence to be found on the site, and if Blaine wasn’t currently running around as a dog with his two cat friends in tow, he’d probably conclude that it all must have been a dream, after all.

It means, however, that they’re not a single step closer to finding out how to track and kill the Yeerks, or how to save their controlled friends. It also means that whatever hope they had on finding something, _anything_ , is now lying with Kurt and Sam and Tina, and as if Blaine wasn’t thinking about that enough already, now even Santana is starting to worry.

_< We said we’d meet here, though, right?>_ she asks for the third time, pacing her corner of the construction site in mad circles. Brittany is sleeping not too far away.

Santana and Blaine have already morphed into human form and then back into animal form because so much time has passed, and it’s killing Blaine. He’s taken to lying down and just trying to drown everything out. Every once in a while, he will glance up and look to the part of the lot that leads to the street in hope to see-

Kurt. This time when he raises his head, he sees him there, Sam and Tina trailing behind him, looking unscathed enough from what Blaine can see.

_< Kurt!>_ he exclaims, not quite sure if it’s audible to just Kurt or to everyone else, too, because he’s focusing on running towards him instead.

Kurt grins, and then gasps as the force of Blaine’s jump tackles him to the ground.

“Woah, Blaine,” Kurt says, laughing once he sits back up and runs his fingers through Blaine’s fur.

Blaine doesn’t answer, just hugs Kurt as much as physically possible in his current state, and licks Kurt’s neck and jawline as a way to greet him.

He only realizes how strange that would probably look if he was in his human form when Sam and Tina clear their throats behind them, and backs away a little, though he can’t stop his tail from wagging because he is so _happy_ to see Kurt.

“Hi there.” Kurt’s cheeks are a little pink and his eyes don’t quite meet Blaine’s. “You’d make the most convincing dog ever, you know that?”

He can hear Santana chuckle in thought-speak and Sam and Tina are visibly stifling laughter, too. Blaine’s suddenly very embarrassed because in addition to their friend’s amusement, Kurt won’t stop blushing, and maybe, just maybe, he overdid the greeting a little bit.

Is it normal to be this worried about his best friend? Blaine doesn’t really have a situation to compare this with because never before in his life were goodbyes a matter of life and death, a question of, “Will I ever see you again?” instead of, “See you later.”

He just missed Kurt, and it feels very natural to be relieved that he’s fine and alive and _here_.

_< Sorry, didn’t mean to tackle you,>_ Blaine says shyly. _< I was so worried because you didn’t return on time and… well, anyway, where have you been?>_

Kurt nods along to his words, and this time he does look at Blaine directly.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry,” he says. “We were trying to leave the barbeque but we ran into too many people and it would have looked suspicious if we just left without making small talk first. I swear to god, Rachel almost called in a spontaneous Glee club meeting when she saw us.”

_< But did you find anything?>_ Santana asks.

“Yes, actually, but I have a feeling we should go somewhere less… outside… to discuss,” Kurt replies. “Are your parents all at the barbeque? Because I saw Carole but I think my dad stayed home.”

Tina says hers stayed home, too, and Sam’s parents didn’t seem to be at the barbeque, either. Santana’s home is occupied as well and Blaine’s is out of the question, anyway, because of the location.

_< Ah, wait.>_ Santana pokes Brittany to wake her up from her slumber. _< Brittany, your parents aren’t home, right?>_

_< Yeah, they’re in Indiana, looking for me in the town where I was conceived.> _Brittany yawns. _ <But… I don’t have a key to my house anymore. They changed the lock after we took some of my stuff out of my room the night after I morphed permanently.>_

Blaine softly knocks his head against hers to express his empathy.

_< The backyard seemed pretty secluded, though,>_ he says. _< Do you think we could go there?>_

_< Sure.>_ Brittany jumps up to her feet. _< Oh, you guys are all back, when did that happen?>_

* * *

Once they’re all changed back to human seated in a circle in Brittany’s backyard and it’s been established that the mission at the construction site didn’t bear any remaining clues, Kurt, Sam and Tina start retelling the events from the barbeque.

Apparently, according to Sam, the good news is that the Sharing was never meant to turn everyone at the party into a host at the same day. Instead, the Yeerks are establishing the Sharing as a weekly event that will be known across the region so that their host supply never fades; and since nobody ever disappears completely, instead just walking among everyone else as an alien-controlled vessel, there won’t be any negative headlines.

Blaine has to hand it to those guys – it is pretty smart to disguise all of this as a big get-together for everyone with loads of fun and food. It keeps the masses coming.

The bad news, of course, is, that they still have no idea who of their friends has already been turned into a threat, except for the football team and Jacob Ben Israel, who are evidently already under control. Kurt and Tina both brave through that part of the story, though they can’t exactly hide their unhappiness over losing Finn and Mike and the rest of their friends to their enemies.

“It’s not permanent, though, right?” Blaine asks. “They’re savable?”

“We hope so,” Kurt says. “Which brings me to the next discovery. I know how they control human beings now. It’s pretty gross so please don’t say I didn’t warn you…” He pulls out a camcorder from his satchel. “Jacob lost this when Puck pushed him and I could confiscate it, which, by the way, is all thanks to Sam and Tina’s major talent for diversionary tactics.”

“I had to let a spider touch my bare skin,” Tina says, shuddering at the memory. “It was the most disgusting thing I ever had to do, and please, Sam, get yourself a different option to morph into ASAP, okay?”

Blaine watches as Sam winks at her and hopes that he’ll never ever have to endure that torture. No matter how many times he’s watched Sam morph into the spider by now, he’s still not going to touch it anytime soon.

“Anyway,” Kurt says. “They only seized Jacob because he was snooping around the beverage tent where Sam found the football team so he wasn’t part of the plan. I guess he was easy to grab because he’s so small, but what they didn’t know was that Jacob always carries his camera and that, lucky for us, the camera was rolling…”

_< How can a square object roll?>_ Brittany wonders, to which Santana responds with a pat on her head.

“Are you all ready for this?” Kurt asks. “Like I said, it’s not very appetizing.”

“Just play it,” Tina urges. “If we’re fighting against this, we’ll need to see it.”

Kurt nods, presses play, and tilts the camera so that they all can look at it, though they still need to scoot closer together. Blaine’s still feeling a little self-conscious around Kurt after what happened earlier, something that Santana called _< an epic make-out>_ right before she morphed back (Blaine can only hope it wasn’t sent to everyone), so he makes sure not to sit too close to Kurt, even though their arms are brushing together anyway.

He puts all his willpower into focusing on the video on the screen, even though at first it’s just Jacob Ben Israel’s horrible narrating as he discovers the stretchers in the tent.

“Look, the football team isn’t there anymore,” Sam observes.

On screen, Jacob announces, “They’ve certainly prepared for all possible outcomes of this poor excuse for a drinking binge- oh, I think someone’s coming.” At this point, he puts his camera in his pocket so the screen fades to black but the audio is still pretty clear. “Okay, let’s sneak ou- aaaaaah!”

There’s a loud smacking noise that sounds like Jacob has been knocked unconscious and then someone’s grunting as they probably haul Jacob’s body over their shoulder.

Kurt presses forward on the camera.

“I already watched it,” he explains. “There’s nothing but breathing noises for a while.”

“Wanky,” Santana mumbles, but there’s not much intent behind it, as she’s still staring at the screen as if it’s the most interesting thing she’s ever seen.

When Kurt presses play again, the screen is still black but the background noises have multiplied. There’s more footsteps, more talking, some crying or screaming, and also a quiet conversation that must have taken place very close to the recording device, as it’s clearer than everything else.

“Found him in the tent.”

_< That’s Quinn’s voice,>_ Brittany says.

“Oh my god, you’re right,” Santana whispers, looking shocked, and Sam lets out a strangled noise.

“Good job,” a different voice replies. “Put him in a cage, I’ll assign him last.”

“Is that… Coach Beiste?” Tina asks.

“I think so,” Kurt replies.

Quinn apparently hesitates. “He’s not drugged, he’ll wake up.”

“Good.” Coach Beiste chuckles darkly. “That way he’ll see what’s coming, serves him right.”

Some clanking of metal bars can be heard, and then the footsteps seem to retreat.

“Alright.” Kurt presses forward again. “The next part is yucky. He woke up, seemed to be horrified, pulled out his camera and then…”

Kurt presses play.

“What is this place?” Jacob whispers, voice high and scared.

Blaine sees some blurry lights as the camera is turned to the outside of his cage, and he squints at the screen.

“It looks like a cave,” he says, flabbergasted. “What the…”

Tina scoots closer to the camera and points to a far-away corner of the cave. “Look, there’s something like a tower and that right here in the foreground looks like a pool.”

Kurt nods. “Yeah, that’s what I figured, too. But look what happens now.”

In front of Jacob’s cage, the silhouette of a girl in a Cheerios uniform, probably Quinn, is dragging a body to the edge of the dark water.

“I think that’s Karofsky,” Kurt says. “I saw him later when he was possessed. I think at this point he must have still been unconscious.”

Everybody is quiet as the water seems to be moving and suddenly a wobbly, slimy, worm-like creature is sliding up Karofsky’s body. Blaine watches in horror as it moves closer to his ear and starts pushing in slowly, bit by bit, until it disappears in his head completely.

Jacob is starting to hyperventilate and by the time Karofsky seems to regain consciousness, Jacob’s actually letting out tiny squeaks that get Quinn’s controller’s attention, and he actually still has the presence of mind to push his camera back into his pocket so that the screen goes dark again.

Kurt reaches over to press pause.

“From then on it’s a lot of screaming and then controlled Jacob making his way to where I saw him with Karofsky later. Sadly, no other hints, though I’d say this is already a lot to process.”

Blaine stares at the screen, transfixed and overwhelmed by what he just saw. If that is what’s going on underneath their friends’ school, and if that is what’s taking control of humans in Lima and very soon all of Ohio, possibly all of the world… well, it’s safe to say that Blaine is definitely on board with fighting those guys now.

“Can we all just take a moment to say… _ew_?” Santana says. Her entire face is frowning. “What the actual fuck was that thing that deflowered Karofsky’s ear?”

_< Looked like a giant slug to me,>_ Brittany says, and Blaine’s half sure she might have accompanied the comment with a shrug if she was still capable of shrugging.

“I guess those are Yeerks then?” Tina says, voice shaking. “That’s… that’s what’s inside my boyfriend’s head right now?”

They all look to Kurt. Blaine knows he can’t have much more answers than any of them but somehow, being the finder of the camera, his opinion seems to have more weight than any of theirs.

“I think so.” Kurt hesitates. “I just really don’t know what to do with that information, you know? How do we fight them?”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, dude,” Sam says. “You got us exclusive video material of how the bad guys control humans. The next step is figuring out how to fight them but at least today we got to this point.”

Blaine smiles at Sam. He likes his optimistic attitude.

“Yeah.” Kurt nods, though it still looks a bit sad. “I just can’t stop thinking about Finn and how he’s already in their hands… I wish I could do more.”

“All in its proper time,” Blaine tells him. “I think we should talk about that cave, though. Do we have any idea where it might be located?”

_< Must be near the school,>_ Brittany says.

“Yes, definitely,” Kurt confirms. “Puck and Finn seemed to be headed there when I saw them last. They went into the building.”

_< Did you follow them?>_

Kurt shakes his head and looks like he’s beating himself up over that.

“But even if you did,” Blaine says gently, “the only upside would be that you’d know where the entrance to the cave lies, and it wouldn’t have helped us today at all. We still can’t fight them with our current powers. We need better animals to turn into.”

“And training,” Tina adds. “I’m really slow with my morphing and I think I’d want to learn how to do it with my clothes on at one point if that’s even possible.”

_< We could do a training camp weekend,>_ Brittany suggests excitedly. _< On a farm… or in a zoo!>_

“Well, I actually had the same idea,” Kurt says. “But the thing is, we’d have to go out of town for a few days so we could visit a zoo and practice somewhere nobody would bother us.”

“Doesn’t Lima have a zoo?” Santana asks, frowning.

“Nope,” Kurt says. “I was surprised, too, but I already checked – no zoo.”

Blaine scrunches up his face in thought, pulling at some grass between his fingers.

There is a zoo in Columbus and it’s close enough to Westerville to be easy for Kurt and him to get to but still, Dalton is in no way a safe place to practice morphing, if the debacle from last weekend is any indication. He could really do without another surprise visit from Wes or-

“Wes!” Blaine says. He clears his throat when everybody stares at him. “Sorry. My friend Wes, he… his grandparents own a vacation house just outside of Columbus that they use when they want to visit his family, and he owes me a favor,” Blaine glances at Kurt and sees him grin a little, probably at the memory of throwing Wes out of their room, “so I could ask him if I can have it for the weekend. It’ll give us the privacy of a house to practice the morphing, and it’s close to some animals we could use if we go on a quick day trip to the Columbus Zoo.”

“Brilliant,” Tina says brightly, then frowns. “Can we really afford going out of town for a whole weekend when they’re continuing to recruit new hosts…?”

“It’s either that or take on the Yeerks as a bunch of cats, dogs, a frog and a spider,” Santana retorts. “Don’t know about you but personally, I’d say fuck that.” She grins. “I wanna be a freaking rhino when I stop the apocalypse.”

“I agree,” Sam says. “One weekend means more hosts for the Yeerks but also more animals and improved skills for us, and since we don’t have a better plan right now, we should stick with it for now. Blaine, how soon can you organize this vacation house?”

Blaine shrugs. “I’ll ask Wes tonight.”

“Well, then it’s settled.” Kurt claps his hands loudly. “Now, let’s make a list of what we should bring to the trip.”

* * *

Thankfully, Wes doesn’t ask too many questions when Blaine asks him if he can use his grandparents’ house for a weekend because he’s too busy reaffirming how sorry he is for barging in the other day and telling some people (“but, like, only David, and maybe Nick and Jeff, too. Oh, and Thad and Trent… but nobody else, I swear”). He does ask who’s going to be there, however, and when Blaine says that it’s just going to be Kurt and him and some friends of Kurt’s, Wes’ apologetic smile starts to turn into a grin and he says, “Of _course_ you can have the house for a weekend getaway with Kurt. I won’t tell anyone this time, I promise! Just bring your own sheets, okay?”

Blaine’s sure his cheeks have permanently been on fire ever since that exchange happened but at least he was successful in organizing the venue for their training camp.

Since they can’t do much beside practice and go to school as if nothing ever happened, Blaine finds he has a little too much time to think, and all the thinking involves mulling over why he’s suddenly so wildly aware of every little move Kurt makes in their dorm room and why he was so emotional when Kurt and he reunited at the construction site last Saturday.

At first, he pushed the thought away with an off-hand explanation of how his dog instincts must have been very strong after morphing for so long and how being that worried about his best friend should be considered completely natural. But that doesn’t really cover the fact that the urge to press his face into Kurt’s neck again hasn’t subsided ever since, even in his human form. Blaine’s pretty sure that the way he shivers when Kurt touches him, even the briefest of brushing of hands, must be pretty obvious even to Kurt by now.

And that scares him a little.

Because, yes, Kurt might be insanely attractive and completely and totally Blaine’s type, but he was also broken and fragile when they first met, when he stopped him on the Dalton staircase in his adorable wannabe Dalton outfit, that Blaine hasn’t dared to allow his attraction to take up more than a very minimal part in their friendship. Being Kurt’s friend was about comfort first, then about fun and shared interests and hobbies, and even when Kurt moved to the dorm rooms, Blaine didn’t even think about the implications of rooming together.

But now… now they have some kind of superpower and Kurt seems to feel so comfortable in his new role, so self-assured and confident that he almost takes natural leadership in their group, unafraid of putting himself out there to help save humanity, that Blaine can’t help feeling like the cute, shy boy who asked for directions that day at Dalton has grown up into something that isn’t just Blaine’s type on an aesthetic scale but also a person he could very easily see himself falling for, hard and fast and recklessly.

So, yeah, scary.

Blaine sighs. Maybe his brain is just super occupied with Kurt because life and death are kind of accompanying thoughts at a time like this and all the sensations are inevitably heightened.

Also, he’s seen a lot of bare skin lately. That’s new, too. And very enticing.

He’s in so much trouble, isn’t he? Of all the times he could have chosen to notice Kurt in this new way, he had to pick the start of the world’s possible end.

He rolls over with a sigh and tries to catch at least some sleep before they have to get up for school and their weekend trip.

* * *

Kurt and Blaine have Wes’ blessing to skip Warblers’ rehearsal (Kurt makes sure of that, and Blaine has to actually stifle his laughter because Wes looks as terrified as Blaine has ever seen him), which is convenient because they have to drive to Lima first to pick up all their friends and then go back in the direction of Columbus. It’s a waste of time, really, but Santana and Brittany are bringing Lord Tubbington, and they can’t have any of their parents see the double cat if they drove them out to Westerville – that would be hard to explain.

They all fit into Kurt’s Navigator easily and they’re quick enough to get on the road again to get to the vacation house fairly early, though. As soon as they park on the driveway, they leave their luggage forgotten in the car to explore the house first.

There’s a large kitchen and a living room with a big couch that they’ll have to use as a bed because the house only has two bedrooms, each with a king-sized bed. They arrange it so that Tina and Santana share the bigger bedroom, with Brittany and Lord Tubbington, of course. Blaine is about to offer that he can take the couch when Sam rolls his eyes and plumps down on it, saying, “I guess I’ll have to take one for the team.”

Blaine opens his mouth to say something but he feels himself freeze before he can protest. He doesn’t really _want_ to sleep on the couch and, if he’s being honest, sharing a bed with Kurt isn’t the worst idea he’s ever heard, either…

And Sam already offered.

He glances at Kurt, who merely shrugs and grins.

“Oh, well, if you insist,” he tells Sam. “I’ll take a bed over a couch anytime.”

Kurt takes off in the direction of the second bedroom, leaving Blaine alone with Sam in the living room.

Sam raises his eyebrows at Blaine. “What are you waiting for?”

“Uh… nothing.” Blaine points to the hallway awkwardly. “I’m just gonna… follow… Kurt. See you- uhm, see you later, Sam.”

He has the eerie feeling that Sam knows exactly what’s going on in his head and moves to follow Kurt to their room quickly. Kurt’s already sprawled out on the bed happily.

“So much better than the beds at Dalton,” he gushes. “Can Wes owe you favors, like, every other weekend or so? I could get used to this…”

“I think you might see this house a few times more during your time at Dalton.” Blaine smiles. “The Warblers throw parties here sometimes.”

“Ah, see, I knew you weren’t all just preppy and boring.” Kurt grins at Blaine and sits back up. “Should we get the luggage from the car?”

“Sure.” Blaine takes a deep breath. Rooming with Kurt here will just be like rooming with Kurt at Dalton. Just in the same bed. No big deal. “Let’s go.”

As soon as they get the luggage into the house and everything is settled, they all meet up in the living room to prepare their weekend together.

“Animorphs assemble!” Sam announces with a grin, and everyone shakes their heads at him.

“No, Sam,” Tina tells him, causing Sam to pout. “That’s not a thing.”

“But… we’re superheroes…”

“Yeah, some heroes we are,” Santana drawls. “You’re a super lame rip-off of Spiderman, and Brittany and I are Catwomen… I guess Kurt and Blaine could cosplay as Captain America and his very platonic best friend Bucky, and… I don’t even know what the hell Tina would be other than a gender-swapped version of the Princess and the Frog.”

“God, can you shut up?” Kurt mumbles.

The fact that he doesn’t protest otherwise doesn’t escape Blaine. As for him, he doesn’t even comment. He just pretends that if he wills all the blood to stay in his torso, it won’t shoot up to his cheeks.

“So… I’m getting the vibe that you don’t want me to call us the Animorphs,” Sam tries to clarify and everyone gives him pointed looks that, despite the individual variety, all say “yes, Sam.”

They start the meeting by making a quick overview of what they need to do over the course of the weekend. Tina, as always, scribbles down everything they say and presents them with a list of tasks and assignments that reads:

_\- get more animal DNA: nearby farms (maybe), the zoo (definitely)_

_\- improve morphing: velocity (Kurt can teach), thought-speak (Brittany’s a pro), morph with clothes!!!! (nobody has mastered it yet), how to choose the right morph for a situation (Sam will prepare something)_

_\- improve human fighting/self-defense techniques (just in case): Santana and Blaine have some tricks up their sleeves_

_\- brainstorm/discuss Yeerks situation: how to fight, how to capture, how to detach them from their hosts, how to tell them apart from an actual human ( important: Where can we get information???)_

_\- maybe work through some sample scenarios: learn how to work together as a team_

It’s a pretty long list for a short weekend but Tina is already color coding them in order of priorities so Blaine is sure they’ll manage to at least get to the important stuff.

_< There’s no specific task for you, Tina,>_ Brittany says sadly when she’s done reading.

“Not a problem.” Tina smirks. “I’m the brains of the operation.”

Some of them protest, especially Santana, but Tina holds up her notebook and says, “I see none of you writing down our every move so I obviously have better organizational skills than all of you.” She opens a new page in her book. “Alright, I say we make a schedule and get going!”

They decide to save the zoo for the next day but look for some farms in the vicinity next so that they can practice morphing in the house later that evening while also bringing some variety into their morph forms because Sam and Tina still only have one morph.

Blaine thinks he remembers the way to a farm that’s in walking distance so he leads them through a small part of the adjacent forest until they finally reach wide fields and see a few farm houses in the distance.

_< Oooh, horses,>_ Brittany says excitedly. _< I wish I could pet them.>_

“I’m sure they wouldn’t appreciate a cat having a go at them,” Santana tells her, “but I could turn into a horse for you and then you can pet _me_.”

_< Yay!>_

Santana climbs over the small fence that separates them from the horses and saunters over to a pretty gray mare. Blaine is a bit in awe with how kindly she treats the animal, patting it on the neck gently and murmuring encouragements, when she is usually so abrasive with everyone else. Then again, he’s seen her with Brittany. When she loves, she loves fully.

Once she’s back with the group, she wiggles her fingers like there’s magic in them.

“Alright, I’ve got the DNA, let’s get some for the rest of you.”

Tina wants to get horse DNA as well, so she copies Santana’s move and chooses a furry black pony on the meadow. Sam claims he’s not one for horses so they keep looking for a new morph for him, and it’s not until they reach the farm house that Sam spots an animal he likes.

“Aren’t you a cute little doggy?” he murmurs but the German Shepherd he’s looking at growls at him from behind the tall fence and bares its teeth.

_< I don’t think he likes you,>_ Brittany says.

Blaine thinks it’s the understatement of the year as he watches Sam step closer and closer to the dog who is still not getting any friendlier, actually _glowering_ at Sam.

“Maybe you shouldn’t get this one,” Tina adds, reaching out to stop Sam from moving closer. “I’m not sure if the DNA is worth losing a hand.”

Sam pouts. “But I want a dog.”

“Didn’t you say your neighbor had one?” Blaine asks.

“Yeah, but…” Sam shrugs. “She’s a bitch. The dog, I mean, not the neighbor. She has a lady dog. What if I morph into the dog and get the dog’s period? I hear those are intense, man. Over two weeks of bleeding!”

Blaine can’t argue with that logic, though the way Santana and Tina give Sam the side-eye must mean that they think it’s a ridiculous thought.

“Can we move on?” Kurt asks. “Either touch the dog or don’t. I for one would like to actually practice at some point today.”

Blaine glances at him, and can’t help but notice how fierce and dominant Kurt looks with his hands on his hips, raised eyebrows and a light scowl on his face. It shouldn’t be attractive but it is, somehow, to Blaine, and he blushes, thankfully hidden in the dusk, when Kurt meets his eye.

Blaine wishes he could just turn this feeling off. It was so much easier when he saw Kurt as his friend and was able to clearly draw the line between that and… _more_. Now it’s all blurred and he doesn’t even know what Kurt would say if he knew that Blaine was starting to develop some serious feelings for him all of a sudden.

Or maybe it isn’t even that sudden. Maybe Blaine has just been very incredibly dense.

He shakes himself out of it. _This is a training weekend_ , he tells himself. _Don’t get sidetracked_.

Thankfully, Sam saves Blaine from his never-ending thoughts by surprising them all, the dog included, with a quick move as he reaches over the fence and pets the dog in one swift motion before retracting the hand just as quickly.

The dog starts barking like crazy and the light goes on in the farm house, making them all turn their heads towards it.

“Maybe we should get back to the house,” Tina hurries to say. “I don’t want to be killed by an angry dog.”

“Or shot by an angry farmer,” Santana agrees.

They duck out of sight into a blind spot behind the house and retreat back into the woods where they came from.

Blaine takes the lead, having memorized the way already, and even though it’s dark, he finds the small path leading through the little forest easily. He’s not all that fond of dark environments but Kurt is walking beside him and unknowingly providing him with a welcome distraction.

“How are you holding up?” Kurt asks after a while of silent walking. “I know you had a hard time to adjust…”

“Oh, don’t worry.” Blaine turns his head slightly to smile reassuringly. “I’m actually looking forward to learning all this stuff.”

“Really?” Kurt asks, looking skeptical.

“Promise,” Blaine says. “This isn’t just about me anymore, you know? People are getting hurt, and we have a chance to stop it. I just get a little worried sometimes…”

“About what?”

_Losing you_ , Blaine thinks, but shakes his head quickly. “Never mind,” he says.

Kurt bumps their shoulders together. “Well, the better we get at morphing, the less we’ll have to worry, right?”

“Right.” Blaine smiles. “Though I’m still holding out for a better morph than a hedgehog and a dog…”

“Yeah, we didn’t get to pet any new animals,” Kurt says sadly. “I was hoping to try something new.”

“Maybe tomorrow,” Blaine replies, glancing at Kurt. “We’ll have a whole day at the zoo, and I’m sure- aaahhh!”

Something brushed his head, soft and quick, and in the darkness, Blaine can’t make out where it came from or where it went.

He has been keeping a considerate amount of space between Kurt and him but as soon as he lets out the scream, he feels Kurt’s body right next to his, his arms wrapped around Blaine’s waist securely.

“What is it?” Kurt asks, a little panicked. “Did you see something?”

“Feel something, actually,” Blaine whispers, still fidgety. Whatever was at his head was way too close to his ear for his liking. Jacob’s video evidently showed that Yeerks are rather slow and possibly very slimy but Blaine still finds his hands roaming over his ears to prevent any possible intruders from entering them.

“Is it still… around?” Kurt mutters.

Blaine feels stupid for having felt so awkward around Kurt earlier today. Right now, he feels strangely safe with Kurt looking out for him, and he wonders if Kurt felt the same when Blaine worried about him at the Sharing.

A few leaves flutter around them, and there’s a sound of a twig breaking that makes them both flinch.

“I hope you’re not planning to save the world with high-pitched screams and hand-holding,” Santana quips from behind them, and her voice actually causes them to jump even more, “especially not if you get spooked by darkness and a few bats.”

“Bats?” Kurt loosens his grip on Blaine’s body. “Blaine, did you just lose your shit over a bat?”

“I, uh, well,” Blaine stammers. “In my defense, I thought it was Yeerks trying to get my brain.”

“Who’d want a peanut-sized brain like yours, anyway?” Santana teases him, and grins at Kurt when he punches her arm in response to the comment. “But, hey, if you’re lucky, you might have caught its DNA.”

“That’s true!” Kurt exclaims cheerfully. “How cool would it be if you could turn into a bat, Blaine? I tell you, flying is _amazing_ …”

He spends the rest of the way gushing about how being able to fly changed his life, and Blaine spends it trying to push away the lingering feeling of Kurt’s protective arms around him.

It’s like worrying about Kurt on his mission unleashed this new side in Blaine that can’t stop wondering when and how and why Kurt became so precious and important to him.

He’s relieved when Tina suggests they meet up right away for morphing practice. He doesn’t really feel like having more time to think.

They practice velocity first, and Kurt goes over his go-to techniques with them, making them watch themselves morph in front of mirrors to get used to the sight and to strengthen their focus and concentration while they morph. Then he tells them to morph back and forth between animal and human, each time tackling a different morph so they’ll feel the differences between their animal forms.

Blaine is in awe with how fast his morphing improves. After only about half an hour of training, he’s able to turn into his dog form while running, the transformation slowly becoming a part of a fluent process instead of an obstacle to get over with. He suddenly feels a little bad for not practicing as often as Kurt does, and vows to actually step up his game from now on.

“You should try the bat,” Santana reminds him after she’s watched him run for a while.

Blaine turns to her with an excited smile. “Do you really think it worked? I didn’t touch it with my hand…”

“A touch is a touch.” Santana rolls her eyes. “Just try it.”

Blaine shrugs and decides to just go for it. He steels himself for the next run as Tina practices the run-morph in her horse form. When she’s done, Blaine bolts forward and thinks of the bat. It was the tiniest of touches, so concentrating on it doesn’t come easily to him, but he thinks of how the brush of the bat’s body against his head felt, and all of a sudden, he feels himself getting smaller in less than half a second, his arms spreading into wings and his whole face shooting forward into a snout.

He’s so surprised that it’s working that he almost drops onto the floor. However, the bat instincts take over quickly and his wings flutter as he gets himself up in the air. He feels so _light_ , and suddenly he knows why Kurt is such a flight enthusiast. It feels amazing.

Kurt is beaming up at him, and tells him he did a good job.

“Try to morph back only when you’re on the ground, though,” he adds quickly. “You don’t want to fall. I almost broke my leg the first time I changed back from Pavarotti.”

It does feel a bit like falling when Blaine changes back but he catches himself before he topples over, and he turns back to the group with a proud grin, which most of them return, except for Santana who just rolls her eyes again. Blaine does have a feeling that she’s warming up to him, though, so he just ignores her.

He can’t believe how he went from pretending none of this ever happened to enjoying the adventure but… here he is, actually having _fun_ while preparing to save the world.

The next thing they try is sending thought-speak to everyone and to specific people in the room. Even though they have all done it before, most of them still struggle with forming their thoughts quickly and effectively. Brittany, who’s been in her cat body for two weeks now, is more used to it, and teaches them some of the basics. She makes them form a sentence and send each word of the sentence to a different person so that nobody receives a whole phrase but random words. It’s quite fun, though Blaine still needs to concentrate a whole lot so he’ll get the right person and the right word.

Since nobody seems particularly keen on trying morphing with clothes in front of everyone, they decide to make this part of the individual practice routines in the privacy of their bathrooms, and move on to learning how to choose the right animal for the right situation. Sam, who seemed to be a natural with the thought-speak and the quick morphing, used his free time to come up with an association game of sorts that he says will help them choosing a right morph for specific situations.

“When Kurt asked me to distract the guards at McKinley, I had no other choice than to go with the spider,” he explains. “But now that we have more than one option, choosing the right one might be the difference between alive and dead.”

Blaine shudders a bit at the words. Even though he finds himself enjoying morphing more and more each day, he still catches himself wanting to wake up from this bad dream, and continue to live his life as it was before Starchild showed up. He knows some of them consider their new-found superpower some sort of awakening – to Blaine, however, it seems more like his doom.

Sam gives them situations and three animals to choose from, which they discuss in the group like they’re trying to solve a riddle. Some of the scenarios sound somewhat familiar to Blaine, and he has to suppress a grin when Sam announces the next situation.

“A horde of wildebeest comes running towards you as you’re standing in a gorge. Which animal do you turn into – lion, hornbill, or hyena?”

_< Lion,>_ Brittany says at once. _< I’ll kill the wildebeests.>_

“Have you never watched any Disney movies?” Blaine asks incredulously. “You’re dead, the lion gets trampled to death by the wildebeest.” He turns to Sam. “Right?”

“Yup, Brittany’s dead.” Sam grins. “The lion is too big for a situation like that. You don’t want to get trampled. So you choose…?”

“The hornbill,” Blaine says with a shrug. “Fly away, problem solved.”

“Aaaand Blaine lives!” Sam announces, sounding a bit like he’s hosting the Hunger Games, and Blaine laughs when Sam goes as far as to take his arm and hold it up as if proclaiming his victory. “Okay, I have more scenarios but you all look a bit tired…”

“Yeah, I think we should head to bed,” Tina agrees. “If we want to get stuff done at the zoo tomorrow, we need to be well-rested.”

Without any further ado, they get up from the couches and disappear to their respective bedrooms. Blaine makes quick work of his night routine, wanting to get as much sleep as possible and maybe avoid having to fall asleep while Kurt is lying next to him. He’s already half convinced that he won’t sleep at all with Kurt there.

His brain won’t cooperate, though, and he’s still wide awake by the time Kurt crawls under the covers.

“Hi,” Blaine says softly, partly because he doesn’t have anything better to say and partly because he just feels like it. He turns his head slightly to look at Kurt and sees him smile.

“Hey,” Kurt echoes and pulls the blanket all the way up to his chin before curling himself up in that cat-like position Blaine’s already used to.

It’s suddenly very clear to Blaine that rooming with Kurt at Dalton is not at all like sleeping in the same bed with him. No shared nap in Blaine’s bed at Dalton could have prepared him for actually lying under the same covers with Kurt and being able to feel Kurt’s breath on his face.

Kurt’s eyes are still on him, and Blaine doesn’t notice how he’s staring back into them until Kurt asks, “Are you okay? You look a little spooked.” He scoots closer. “Are you still worried?”

Blaine gulps. “I’m fine,” he manages. “Just…”

He can’t bring himself to say more without telling Kurt the truth – that he likes it more than he should, having Kurt right there with him, that he feels the overwhelming urge to press their bodies close and fall asleep spooning, and has felt it for a long time even though he never let himself act on it.

“Just what?” Kurt asks quietly, licking his lips.

Blaine’s eyes are transfixed on the motion.

Oh, _screw it_.

“This is… different,” he says, gesturing between their bodies. “New.”

Kurt blinks, and his mouth drops open slightly.

“Oh,” he says, averting his eyes suddenly. “I can… move, or turn around, if it’s… uncomfortable for you.”

Blaine’s thoughts flash back to that morning at Dalton two weeks ago, how hurt Kurt had looked when he started spouting off nonsense about the gossip that would ensue. He doesn’t want to make that mistake again, and the fact that Kurt cared so little about people finding out but so much about Blaine taking it the wrong way must mean that Blaine isn’t alone in this, that it isn’t entirely hopeless, right?

“No,” he replies, a lot calmer than the speedy thumping of his heart. “I’m not uncomfortable. Actually, it’s- it’s nice, I like it.”

Kurt’s eyes shoot back up to Blaine’s face, searching a little. For what, Blaine doesn’t know, but he hopes it’s there for Kurt to see.

Apparently, it is, because Kurt’s features relax at once. There’s a hint of a smile, even, and it does nothing to slow Blaine heartbeat when Kurt says, “Okay, uhm, me- me, too.”

Blaine wants to be brave and press his lips to Kurt’s, or stroke his cheek and admit that he’s feeling a lot right now that he doesn’t quite know how to put into words, or at least take his hand and let his slightly damp palms speak for him (then again, ew, no, he doesn’t want to gross Kurt out).

But he’s not brave so he doesn’t. And for once, it seems like Kurt isn’t, either.

They just continue to look at one another for a while until neither of them can take it anymore and they let their eyes slide closed almost simultaneously, letting sleep overcome them, leaving talks about feelings and possibilities for another day.

* * *

When Blaine’s alarm wakes him, he makes quick work of dismissing it so he won’t wake Kurt. As he puts his phone back on the bedside table, and turns to the other side of the bed, though, he notices that Kurt isn’t there.

A little confused, Blaine sits up and rubs his eyes sleepily. Where is Kurt?

The thought of Kurt being in danger suddenly comes to him, and he sits up a little straighter.

“Kurt,” he hisses. “Are you here somewhere?”

The blanket moves all of a sudden and Blaine scrambles off the bed in a flash. Kurt’s windhound form crawls out from under the blanket, and Blaine lets out a sigh of relief.

_< You’re awake!>_ Kurt says excitedly. _< Finally! I was waiting for you to wake up so I could show you something.>_

Blaine raises his eyebrows. “Okay…?”

_< I woke up an hour ago and decided to practice morphing,>_ Kurt continues. _< I can’t wait to show you what I did! It’s about morphing back.>_

Blaine grin and gives Kurt a small nod. “I’ll turn around so you can change.”

He turns and faces the wall, hearing the sheets rustle as Kurt presumably gets up from the bed and hops onto the floor, but he frowns as he sees the windhound coming to a halt in front of the wall Blaine is looking at.

“Kurt, I can see you,” he says, confused.

_< I know,> _Kurt replies, and that’s when Blaine starts to panic a little because Kurt starts to change back right in front of him and if he was able to resist touching Kurt when they were in the same bed yesterday, he’s pretty sure the same will not apply if Kurt stands naked in front of him.

“Kurt, I…” Blaine stammers, not quite sure what’s going on, or why Kurt is doing this but he can already see the morph happening, the dog sporting blue eyes and soft chestnut hair all of a sudden. “You- I’m right here, what are you doing…?”

Kurt doesn’t answer, just continues to morph and Blaine can’t keep his eyes from the blue ones piercing into him. It’s like he’s glued to the spot; all he can do is stand there as Kurt changes back. _This went from being friends to being a-lot-more-than-friends a bit fast_ , is the last thing he thinks before Kurt is standing right in front of Blaine, very, _very_ close and also very much back in his human form.

Blaine gulps, and wills his eyes to stay right on Kurt’s instead of flitting down.

“Hi, Blaine,” Kurt says with a teasing grin.

“Hi,” Blaine whispers back, and it reminds Blaine of yesterday night but so much more intense because _what is Kurt doing???_

“You can look if you want to,” Kurt tells him calmly but still so very amused, and it freaks Blaine out a little, but what can he do, Kurt is _inviting_ him to look and-

_Oh._

“You’re not naked,” Blaine breathes out, taking in the tight back clothes covering Kurt’s body.

“I’m not naked,” Kurt confirms, and when Blaine looks back up at his face, he catches a smile but also a bit of a blush. “I figured out how to do it without ending up in the nude.”

At first, Blaine doesn’t know what to say to that but then his gaze flickers back down to Kurt’s outfit as he steps away from him a little.

“What _is_ that?” he asks, a little bewildered, eliciting a hearty but somewhat embarrassed laugh from Kurt.

“It’s a unitard.”

“Okay, let me rephrase… I, wow- why do you have a unitard and, more importantly, why did you happen to pack it for this trip?”

Kurt bites his lip. “Well…” he starts, lingering on the word for a long while as if he’s buying himself some time, “I used to do this dance routine with Brittany and Tina, and when I found it in my wardrobe the other day, the idea just sort of came to me…”

“What dance routine?” Blaine wants to know, genuinely intrigued now.

“Uh.” Kurt blushes. “Single Ladies.” He apparently doesn’t miss the way Blaine’s jaw drops slightly because he hurries to add, “I know I look ridiculous in it, it’s just that-”

“No, no, you’re fine,” Blaine blurts, and while he’s glad he didn’t emphasize _fine_ as much as he could have, he still ducks his head a little to hide his red face. “You’re h- it looks good on you.”

It’s the understatement of the year. Kurt looks hot as hell in the black, skin-tight material, especially with his hair sticking in different directions and his cheeks slightly flushed, but Blaine can’t very well say _that_ , so he just bites his tongue before he says something entirely inappropriate.

“Oh.” Kurt twists his fingers a little, looking down on himself. “Thanks.”

“So, morphing with clothes,” Blaine says, desperate to change the topic. “That’s actually a thing then, huh?”

“Apparently.” Kurt shrugs. “I mean, I tried it a few times this morning and I never ended up naked, so it can’t be a coincidence. Otherwise I wouldn’t have morphed right here, I promise.”

Blaine is still caught in a jumble of thoughts, like the one that Kurt should probably still not morph in front of Blaine because the unitard doesn’t really leave much to imagination and it still gives Blaine a very delectable visual that makes him feel like he’s sinning just by sneaking a look, but he doesn’t get to voice any of his opinions because the door to their bedroom flies open and a cheery Tina announces, “Time for the zoo! Are you awake yet, you- oh _my_. Am I… interrupting something?”

Kurt looks like he might murder Tina so Blaine hurries to explain, his voice only slightly shaky, “Kurt figured out how to morph with his clothes on! Isn’t that neat?”

“Wait, really?” Tina looks Kurt up and down in his unitard. “Is that why you asked me to bring my leotard?”

Kurt nods. “I had a feeling it might be useful.”

“Oh my god, I need to try it!” Tina cries out excitedly, already hurrying back out into the hallway. “Screw having breakfast together, everyone, I have some morphing practice to do!”

After drowning a cup of coffee and making quick work of his bowl of cereals, Blaine tries to find the tightest pair of jeans he brought with him to have a chance at morphing clothed as well. It doesn’t work the first time he tries it – thankfully locked in the tiny bathroom down the hall – but when he tightens his belt to the closest option possible, he figures out how to do it. His shirt doesn’t stay on because he doesn’t actually have anything tight with him (he always thought the key to morphing was comfortable clothing but apparently, he thought wrong) but he guesses it’s better than nothing to at least keep his pants on. He was a little worried about accidentally flashing people at the zoo.

The others practice as well, all of them successful except for Sam because he claims he doesn’t have anything that’s tight enough, until he suddenly emerges from the bathroom in a pair of tiny gold shorts.

“Are those the pants from Rocky Horror?” Santana asks between hysteric laughs. “Why did you bring them?”

“The material is really comfy.” Sam shrugs. “Mr. Shue didn’t want them back and now I actually wear them a lot.”

They all take a second to laugh at their ridiculous outfits, Santana in a turquoise bodycon dress that looks like she’s about to be interviewed on a red carpet somewhere, Tina and Kurt in their single ladies outfits, Blaine in his tight jeans with a t-shirt in his hand and Sam in his even tighter gold shorts clutching the rest of his clothes in both hands, before they decide to put on regular clothes over their tight ones so they won’t cause too much suspicion.

Then they head out to the car and set off to start the more dangerous part of the day.

* * *

 

Even though Santana and Tina manage to take care of the security cameras and assign shifts for everyone to keep an eye on the security guards on duty, touching an animal at the zoo still isn’t child’s play. There are security precautions everywhere, Blaine realizes after his watch shift when he takes off looking for the perfect animal to morph into.

When an animal isn’t behind glass entirely, its compound is at least secured by a huge fence, and even if Blaine managed to get past it, possibly as a bat, he’d still have to morph back into human form once he’s near the animal, and since most parts of the compounds aren’t shielded from view, he’d be on perfect display for all the unsuspecting visitors.

But he’ll have to choose something soon, lest he won’t have any new morphs to show for when they get back to the house. They decided to split up for the day so that they wouldn’t look suspicious and get thrown out all at once if they caught the security guard’s attention. They are scheduled to meet back at the entrance of the zoo in two hours, and Blaine is pretty sure he’ll need at least one of those hours to safely break into a compound.

This would be much easier if he had known what animal to use from the get-go, like Sam, who ran off in the general direction of the ape compounds right when they split up. Blaine has already passed the insects and arachnids houses, deciding that those morphs are just not for him, no matter how deadly the choices might be.

And therein lies the problem he keeps coming back to: While he needs something dangerous, something he can fight with, or at least something that is fast and unpredictable, he first needs to get the DNA, which means he’ll have to touch the dangerous, fast and unpredictable animal while in his human form.

So he rules out spiders and snakes as well as the big animals that he’d never be able to outrun, like tigers and cheetahs. As he passes the giraffe compound, Blaine thinks that maybe at least he could morph into an animal the size of which would prove to be useful. If he was a giraffe, maybe the others would be able to climb his neck and get to higher places? Then again, the Yeerks seem to be an underground kind of extraterrestrial species, and most of his friends are already able to fly or climb up to higher places, anyway.

Still deep in thought, he comes to a halt in front of a group of teenagers whose noses are pressed against a windowpane.

“Can you see it?” he hears one of them, and another one replying, “Yeah, over there, but it’s asleep.”

“Ugh, boring,” comes another reply, and the group scatters so that Blaine can move closer to the window.

He spares a glance at the sign. _Bornean Sun Bear_ , it reads.

Scanning the compound for the bear, he indeed finds it asleep, half hidden from view by a tree. It doesn’t look very big but trusting the information on the sign, sun bears can be quite dangerous. It still seems less risky than going after a wild cat or a larger kind of bear.

“Perfect,” Blaine breathes out excitedly, and lets his eyes flicker over the compound to find a way in.

“What’s perfect?” a voice pipes up beside him, and Blaine almost jumps in shock but catches himself once he realizes who it is.

“Jesus, Kurt,” he says, clutching a hand to his chest. “You can be really scary sometimes, you know that?”

“Bats scare you,” Kurt says with a dismissing wave of his hand. “What are you up to? Oooh, a bear… are you going to get its DNA?”

Blaine grins. “It’s perfect, Kurt, look! It’s sleeping.” He looks around quickly to make sure they’re not being overheard. “I’m not sure how to get in yet, though.”

Kurt doesn’t reply at first, busying himself with reading the informational sign and nodding to himself. Then he looks around, and points to a door in the back of the compound.

“I guess that would be our best shot,” he says. “I mean, it’s a bit risky because it’s not an open-air enclosure but… we’ll make it work, I guess, we both can fly.”

“You want to come with me?” Blaine asks with a frown. “Don’t you have some DNA catching to do yourself?”

Kurt shrugs. “I got what I came for,” he says. “So I’m free to help. Besides…” He pulls a set of keys out of his pocket and shows it Blaine discreetly. “I might have gotten a hold of a zookeeper’s keys.”

“You what?” Blaine whispers, staring at Kurt in disbelief. “How did you do that?”

“Easy.” Kurt shrugs. “I hid in her satchel when she went to feed the raptors so I was in the antechamber of the compound with her… and she conveniently left her keys there when she went into the compound.”

Blaine continues to stare at Kurt, finding himself strangely amazed and a little turned on by how Kurt’s ways are starting to verge on criminal now.

“So you got yourself another bird?” is what he finally settles on as a reply.

“Nah,” Kurt says, “Pavarotti is enough, even though he’s not as deadly as an eagle. I just wanted her keys. Now, come on, let’s find the entrance to this thing and get you your bear.”

Blaine doesn’t miss how Kurt doesn’t tell him which animal he got instead but decides not to ask. He’ll find out later at any rate, when they compare their DNA yield back at the house, and right now, they really should get going.

They walk around the compound until they find a locked door that is thankfully not in a very crowded area. Kurt looks around subtly.

“You take the keys, you probably look more convincing as a zookeeper than me,” he decides. “I’ll follow you in as Pavarotti, be right back.”

He saunters off in the direction of a nearby bathroom and comes back as the little canary a few minutes later, enough for Blaine to let a strange feeling settle in his stomach. He’s about to do something really illegal – this is nothing compared to driving Santana’s neighbor’s stolen car back to Lima or having his Prius towed by the recovery service for leaving it in the middle of the road before the Sharing. This is breaking into a locked room, this is getting into potentially very serious danger.

_< You can do it,>_ Kurt reassures him, attentive as always. _< I know you can. Think of how many people we’ll save once this is all over.>_

Blaine nods. Kurt is right, of course. They’re not being illegal because they’re rebellious, bored teenagers with some time to spare. They’re trying to save the world, and sometimes that means you’ll have to get a little dirt on your hands, right?

So Blaine focuses on the task at hand and tries to look as inconspicuous as possible as he maneuvers a few of the keys into the lock until he finally finds the right one and lets both of them into the long hallway behind it.

The room has a strong, tangy smell, a little bit like what the Circus used to smell to Blaine when he went as a young child. It’s the smell he’s come to associate with wild animals.

“Now we just need to find the door that leads into the compound,” Kurt whispers, morphed back to human, and suddenly jumps back with a little yelp. “Ah, what was that?!”

_< Relax, it’s me,>_ Brittany says. _< I saw you guys going in and I thought I’d help. Santana’s on her watch shift and I’m bored.>_

Kurt still looks like he’s trying to catch his breath, and Blaine smirks at him.

“Kurt, did you just lose your shit over a cat?” he asks, a perfect mockery of yesterday’s events, and Kurt glares at him playfully.

It’s a weird type of flirting, but Blaine finds himself enjoying it nevertheless.

“The door, guys, we need the door,” Kurt says, and if he’s embarrassed he’s actually doing a pretty good job of hiding it.

“What about that one?” Blaine asks, pointing to a door that reads, _Restricted area. Authorized personnel only._ Next to it, there’s a table with some documents and a small window that shows the inside of the bear compound. “That sounds promising enough, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, that should do the trick,” Kurt says with a grin. “You ready for this?”

“No,” Blaine says with a shrug, “but as ready as I’ll ever be so… let’s do this.”

Kurt takes the keys from him, and opens the door slowly. He puts them on the table, and when Blaine raises an eyebrow at his move, he says, “Just to make sure we don’t lose them in there.”

“What if the door doesn’t open from the inside?” Blaine asks.

“We’ll leave it slightly ajar,” Kurt says.

_< And I’ll guard the keys,>_ Brittany says, jumping up on the table and plumping down next to them.

“Good.” Blaine nods. “Should we morph before going in?”

“Yes, that’s probably our best shot at not being seen by any visitors,” Kurt agrees, already growing tiny wings.

Blaine follows suite, morphs into the bat and flies through the opening of the compound door, Kurt right behind him.

The wild animal smell gets more intense as soon as they’re in the actual compound. They fly as high as they can to get an overview over the shape of the large room they find themselves in. Blaine spots the bear right away; thankfully, it’s still asleep and the tree seems large enough to morph into his human form long enough to touch the bear quickly. If he turns back into the bat right after, it should all go well.

He talks it through with Kurt, and they both agree that it’s their best shot at getting the bear DNA. They land behind the tree, merely three feet from the bear, and Blaine morphs back quickly, relieved to see that his jeans actually stayed on in the process.

He is aware that anyone who’ll look through the small window next to the door will probably see him but the hallway was empty when they entered, and if he’s quick, it’ll probably stay that way. At least the visitors won’t see him through the big glass on the other side of the compound – a guy in jeans and a bare torso touching the bear in the compound would probably cause quite the turmoil.

Taking a deep breath, he reaches out with his hand to touch the hind paw of the bear, which is closest to the tree and therefore the part that is most shielded from view. He’s almost there, two inches, one inch…

His fingers close around the fur of the paw and he looks back at Kurt triumphantly as he retracts his hand.

_< Awesome!>_ Kurt cheers. _< Now put on your shirt and morph back, so you won’t leave any evidence behind.>_

Just as Blaine moves to do just that, two things happen at once.

One, Santana sends a thought to them. _< Has anyone spoken to Brittany? I can’t find her.>_

Two, the bear moves.

Not thinking about how he’s in human form, Blaine ends up blurting, “Yes, she’s guarding a door for us,” and he’s only faintly aware of how Kurt yells at him in thought-speak as his eyes catch the bear’s sudden, quick movements. It spins around to face Blaine and lets out a deafening roar.

_< Blaine, come on, your shirt,>_ Kurt pants. _< Quick!>_

Blaine grasps his shirt, pulls it over his head like a scarf, not bothering to put it on completely, and morphs into the bat before joining Kurt up in the air. They fly towards the door as fast as they can, the bear growling loudly and coming after them, but Kurt stops right in front of him, making Blaine’s bat crash into his canary.

_< It’s closed!>_ Kurt exclaims. _< The door is closed!>_

They left it ajar, they definitely did, and there is no way the wind could have closed it when there’s no draft at all in the building.

_< Brittany!>_ Blaine sends out. _< Brittany, are you there? Get us out!>_

No reply. Blaine and Kurt hover in front of the door for a few seconds but the fast approaching bear situation is definitely calling for drastic and soon-ish measures.

_< Fuck, fuck, fuck!>_ Kurt flies around in a quick circle, obviously trying to find new ways of dealing with their involuntary lock-in. _< What do we do now?>_

Blaine stares at the door for another second.

_< I’ll morph back,> _he says suddenly, _ <I’ll open it in human form, there’s a handle.>_

_< What about the bear?> _Kurt asks, worry seeping through his voice. _ <Blaine, it’ll rip you to pieces.>_

Blaine thinks for a second. _< Can you distract it?>_

The bear is only about twenty feet away from them now, and Kurt flies to meet it in the middle, circling its head and making it go crazy.

_< Guys, we need a distraction in front of the Bornean Sun Bear compound,>_ Blaine sends out to the others, _< because there’s a good chance people might see me morph if they pay close attention.>_

_< On it,>_ comes Tina’s quick reply.

Blaine waits a few more seconds so that Kurt can guide the bear to a different section of the enclosure before he morphs back. He lets himself slump against the door in the process and shakes the handle as soon as he has hands again – but the door doesn’t budge. Hearing the bear roar wildly in recognition of the human intruder of its realm, Blaine throws all caution in the wind and hammers against the door and the window next to it, looking at the keys desperately and wishing they’d have taken them with them after all. Even if Brittany was still there, and it appears that she’s not, she wouldn’t be able to open the door with her paws.

At first, he thinks she really has disappeared completely but suddenly, her cat morph appears right in front of the window.

“Brittany!” Blaine yells, almost happily, and points to the keys. “Please, can you try to open the door for us?”

Brittany doesn’t move, she just tilts her head at Blaine. Maybe she can’t hear him through the glass?

“Brittany!” Blaine yells, louder this time, and pointing again. “The keys!”

She still doesn’t do anything and it isn’t until Kurt tells him that Blaine understands why.

_< Blaine,>_ he says. _< I don’t think that’s Brittany.> _There’s a pause, and Blaine looks at the cat again from its authentic catlike movements to the way it doesn’t seem to be bothered by what it’s seeing at all. Kurt finishes his thought, _ <That’s Lord Tubbington.>_

The moment Kurt had to take to look through the window from where he is distracting the bear is the exact same moment the bear realizes he’s free to go after the human who disturbed its sleep.

Blaine turns around from the door to look at Kurt in horror but finds himself looking at a _very_ pissed off bear instead, one paw with long claws already extended to strike.

He barely hears it when Kurt sends a thought out to everyone, _< Help! We’re in danger! Come to get us out of here NOW!>_

That whole life flashing in front of one’s eyes thing, Blaine realizes, is utter bullshit if you’ve got only about half a second to spare before you die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, cliffhanger. :P


	4. A Little Wildcat Stunt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun... sorry about the cliffhanger from last week, lovelies. ;)

There’s no time to think but Kurt doesn’t need to, anyway. His mind is made up the second he sees the horror in Blaine’s face as the Bornean sun bear comes running towards him.

He darts down between the bear and Blaine, morphing back to human form in about a second. The motion seems to startle the animal, and it buys Kurt another second to tackle a new morph.

He’s barely back to having all his human limbs back when he falls forward on all fours and feels claws extending from his extremities. His body gets covered in yellow and black fur, his tailbone grows into an actual tail, and he feels his mouth stretch around his canines, which he bares instantly to growl at the bear.

Blaine isn’t going to die, not on his watch.

He didn’t think he’d be using his tiger morph quite this early but he’s glad he chose to do it despite the risk he went through in getting the DNA.

The sun bear backs away a little, obviously scared by Kurt’s tiger form. It said on the sign that tigers prey on sun bears so Kurt is hoping that means he’ll be able overpower it. He knows backing away is not an option – the bear is too riled up, it’s already standing up on its hind legs and growling dangerously, and even if Kurt morphs into Pavarotti and they escape the attack flying, there’s no way of knowing when they’ll have a chance to get out. They can’t stay morphed for longer than two hours.

“Kurt, oh my god…” Blaine whispers from behind him, and the bear lets out a roar so deafening, Kurt’s sure the whole zoo must hear it. It’s clearly not amused by their shenanigans.

 _< Blaine, stay behind me,>_ Kurt warns, lowering his body to the ground in a copy of a typical cat’s attacking crouch, pressing his paws into the ground and raising his behind, ready to pounce in case the bear makes another move.

It does make a move, and Kurt lets his animalistic instincts take over as he jumps up at the same time as the bear does. They collide in the air, knocking against each other painfully. Kurt blocks the bear’s raised paw with his own foreleg and manages to push the bear off him before they land on the ground. Kurt somersaults backwards and tries to get back on his feet immediately (whoever said that cats always lands on their feet must have never been in a cat’s body before, that stunt is _hard_ ), but before he can surge forward again, another bear passes him in a sprint.

At first, he panics, thinks that there isn’t just one bear in this compound, that they have to deal with two bears, before he realizes it’s Blaine who’s coming to help him fight off their attacker.

 _< I told you to stay behind me,>_ Kurt tells him.

Blaine throws himself on top of the bear and lets out a loud growl that Kurt isn’t sure whether it’s directed at the bear or him.

 _< You’re clearly forgetting what I told you in the beginning of all this,>_ Blaine replies, and it sounds much calmer than his efforts to hold the bear down look. _< I’m not gonna stand back while you fight.>_

Kurt’s eyes flit between the two bears and the door, trying to assess the situation.

 _< The tiger is this bear’s natural enemy, I checked the sign,>_ he argues desperately. _< I’ve got this, go back to checking the door.>_

 _< Kurt,>_ Blaine says, frustrated, huffing the words out like it’s getting harder to keep the other bear in place. _< There’s no use, the door is locked. Besides, just because you _look _like a tiger right now, doesn’t mean you know how to_ fight _like one. Let me help, please. >_

He’s got a point, of course, and Kurt sighs.

_< Fine. I guess bickering like an old married couple won’t help much, either.>_

Blaine makes a choked-off sound as the bear finally manages to throw him off, and Kurt takes advantage of it losing its balance as a consequence, shoving it back to the ground.

 _< Okay, do we have a plan here?>_ he asks, unsure what to do now that he has the bear pinned. The door is still locked, after all – they can’t just leave. Or can they…? He turns his head slightly to look at the door. Maybe they could use the force of their animal bodies to bust it open?

The second of hesitation is what makes the bear gain control again, and Kurt curses himself for losing his focus as he falls backwards. Blaine takes over immediately.

 _< Knock it unconscious?>_ Blaine suggests. _< Something to give us a break until we get out so we won’t have to kill it.>_

Kurt hums in agreement, and decides to leave Blaine to his task for a moment – it looks like he’s got a firm grip on the bear and it gives Kurt enough time to test out his theory.

He runs up to the door as fast as he can and turns sideways before he hits it to angle his body better, but all it achieves is a dull noise and an ache in his right shoulder.

 _< Kurt, what are you doing?>_ Blaine asks incredulously.

 _< Trying to get the door to open,>_ Kurt pants. _< But it’s not working.>_

_< And if it did, the bear would be able to leave as well.>_

_< Not if we take it out first!> _Kurt defends himself, and he’s done pretending like he isn’t panicking. _< Blaine, we need to get out of here if we don’t want to become bear fodder.>_

 _< You think I don’t know that?> _Blaine’s voice seems strained. _ <What do you think I’m trying to do over here?>_

Kurt turns back to the bears, and watches as Blaine gets thrown off by the bear and recoils a few feet. The other bear gets up right away and comes after Blaine, moving to throw itself against him with its full weight, but Kurt growls at the sight and tackles it mid-run.

He’s about to raise its paw and slash into whatever part of the bear he can reach – it can’t just attack Blaine like that and expect Kurt not to do anything about it – when Blaine cries out, _< Wrong bear, wrong bear!>_

Kurt halts his movements seconds before his paw collides with the bear’s – _Blaine’s_ – chest. Oh god, he almost hurt Blaine – fuck, why do they have to be _identical_?

 _< Oh god, Blaine!>_ he exclaims, hurrying to get off him. _< I’m so sor->_

There’s a stab to his right side, and Kurt is half-convinced it’s the ache from his shoulder where he jumped against the door at first, but then he whips his head around and gets a full view of the bear retracting its claw that’s now glistening with blood. Kurt’s blood.

Kurt stumbles aside, groaning in pain, and he barely notices as Blaine gets to his feet and hits the bear with such force it falls on his back.

 _< Kurt, are you okay?>_ he asks, the words coming out in a worried rush.

Kurt gets up slowly, stretching his limbs tentatively. He’s pretty sure he’s still in pain but he feels his animal instincts taking over gradually, and it includes a blind rage that human Kurt can’t quite put his finger on. He still lets it occupy his mind because it’s better than suppress it and feel the pain from his wound pulse through his body.

 _< I’m fine,>_ he says darkly, and takes a few steps towards the bears. _< Get back, Blaine.>_

_< Kurt, no->_

_< I said, get back,>_ Kurt orders, and he sees one of the bears retreating at the sound of his voice.

As soon as Blaine is out of sight, Kurt pounces on the other bear, pinning it to the ground and biting down on its neck. It howls in pain, and Kurt wastes no time to twist his head back, taking some of the bear’s flesh with him, making it roar again. It lays still for a while, panting, in obvious pain, and Kurt steps aside, deciding to leave it be, injured and hopefully scarred for life.

But when he reaches Blaine a few feet away, the bear suddenly growls again and takes off running towards them, its eyes set on Blaine this time, and something in Kurt just snaps.

He throws himself at the bear again and attacks the other side of its neck, tearing enough flesh off to make blood splash everywhere. He doesn’t stop, taking the bear further apart, ripping at its sides with his claws, until he’s absolutely certain that it’s dead.

He pushes himself off the ground and takes one last measuring look at the bear before he turns his blood-stained face to Blaine, and he swears he can _see_ concern radiating off Blaine even in his morph until he notices that Blaine is in the middle of turning back into his human form.

Once he’s Blaine again, concern isn’t the only thing Kurt sees. Blaine is looking back at him with a slack jaw, wide eyes and… there’s an expression in his eyes that Kurt can’t quite decipher – he fleetly thinks that he might not _want_ to decipher it because it looks close to something like fear, and he’d hate to think that he was the one to put it there.

“Kurt,” Blaine whispers, shock and astonishment seeping into his overall worried tone. “You…”

Kurt tastes blood in his mouth, and the knowledge that it isn’t his own, that it’s the blood of an animal that he just killed with his bare hands, more or less, is turning the iron taste incredibly bitter.

He suddenly just wants to feel and be human again, so he morphs back as fast as he can, standing up tall at first but bending down when he feels a painful stab at his side.

Blaine’s by his side instantly.

“You’re injured,” he says, taking Kurt’s hands in his, keeping them from trying to feel his wound.

“It’s nothing.” Kurt shakes his head and swallows, wincing at the taste of more blood. “Couldn’t let you get hurt, too. Blaine, what if people see us in here?” He hisses in pain when he tries to take a step. “We need to-”

“Ssshh,” Blaine says, laying Kurt on the ground carefully. “Don’t move if it hurts.”

“No, I’m good.” Kurt closes his eyes for a second but then he feels sudden, throbbing pain and he opens them back up. “Ow, what are you doing?”

Blaine finishes tying a knot in his t-shirt that he apparently ripped to wrap it around Kurt’s stomach.

“Applying pressure on the wound,” he explains. “Kurt, that was so…”

Blaine doesn’t finish the sentence, and Kurt bites his lip. He looks at Blaine apprehensively, and tries to drown out the pain in favor of asking what he needs to know, “Blaine, were- ow… were you scared of me?”

Blaine blinks down at him, clearly confused. “Scared of y- what? No, Kurt, no…”

“I think I was scared of me,” Kurt whispers, and he can’t control the sudden flow of tears down his cheeks. “Blaine, I… I killed.”

“Kurt…” Blaine looks like he’s about to cry as well, and he leans down close to rest his forehead against Kurt’s. “You were so brave, Kurt.”

“No, I was _ruthless_ , I… I killed, Blaine, I-” Kurt tries to explain but the tears keep coming and it’s mixing with the blood on his face, creating a salty-sweet taste on his lips that Kurt just wants gone. “I _killed_.”

“You did it to protect yourself… and me,” Blaine says softly, a hand coming up to stroke Kurt’s cheek. “It wasn’t random, it wasn’t a vicious need to kill, Kurt. It was your instinct to _protect_ people. You’re the most compassionate person I know, have I ever told you that?”

Kurt hiccups his way through a moved laugh, the absurdity of the situation getting the better of him. He’s lying on the ground of a bear compound, wounded and bloody, crying his heart out to the boy he almost attacked and then almost died for.

Sometimes, apparently, it takes a situation like this to realize how in love you really are.

“Blaine…” he whispers, warmth spreading in his body like a wildfire. “I…”

He wants to spill his secret, lay it all out for Blaine in the spur of the moment but in a lack of words, Kurt suddenly finds himself surging upwards instead, impossibly close to Blaine’s face now, and he almost pulls back in embarrassment when he realizes that his left hand snaked up Blaine’s arm to finally rest right below his ear. This is _insane_ , he can’t just kiss Blaine-

But Blaine’s leaning his way as well, so Kurt doesn’t stop, either, and when Blaine actually closes his eyes after stealing a glance at Kurt’s lips, Kurt lets his own eyes widen for just a second before squeezing them shut, his fingertips on Blaine’s neck curling in giddy expectation.

_Oh my god, this is happening, this is happening…_

They both flinch when they get a message through thought-speak _._

 _< Okay, I got in, there was a crack between the door and the floor large enough to fit a spider through,> _Sam’s voice rings out to them. _< Are you still inside? Please tell me you’re not dead! I got here as quickly as possible! There are keys on the table, can I open the door with them? What about the bear?>_

Kurt wants to sigh in relief that they have a chance at finally getting out but sighing involves too much movement in his torso and it’s painful so he just signals Blaine with his eyes that he’s okay, and that he can go talk to Sam.

He also kind of wants to scream because Sam just interrupted what could have been the single best moment of his life.

Blaine does get up, though, but not before leaning down again quickly to give his cheek another gentle stroke, and letting out a bit of a wistful sigh.

“I’ll be right back,” he says, and then he disappears from Kurt’s field of vision.

Kurt can hear him talk to Sam, tell him that it’s safe to enter, and not long after, there’s the unmistakable noise of a door opening, and Sam’s human voice carries all the way over to Kurt.

“Thank god Kurt told us where you were, we would have never found- _fuck_ , what’s wrong with Kurt?”

“He’s injured,” Kurt hears Blaine say. “He got into a fight with the bear, and the bear…”

“The bear lost, I can see that,” Sam replies, a little breathlessly, and his face appears above Kurt. “Hey, Kurt...”

“Hi.”

“You took quite a hit, huh?”

Kurt nods grimly. “I’ll be fine, though…” He tries to sit up, and Sam and Blaine take his arms to help him up. “What about Brittany? Did you find her? Lord Tubbington was in the hallway… _is_ in the hallway? Where are the others?”

“Okay, first we need to get you out of here and then I’ll answer all of your questions, okay?” Sam says, lifting Kurt carefully and helping him step towards the door. “Almost there, alright… okay, here we go.”

As soon as Kurt’s through the door, Blaine closes it, and steps forward with a growl when he sees Lord Tubbington still sitting on the table.

“That cat got us into a lot of trouble,” he says, his face darkening. “Where did he even come from, I thought we left him at the house?”

Sam grabs the cat and holds him under the arm that isn’t holding Kurt.

“That’s part of the story,” he says. “But, really, we need to get out of here first and meet Santana at the car. And we should morph as soon as we get out because Tina is doing one hell of a job distracting people but some visitors still saw you two with the bear and the less they see of you as humans, the less trouble you’ll be in. We were hoping nobody would believe them when they claimed to have seen stray animals and humans with the bear but now that it’s dead…” He sighs. “Whatever, let’s get out first. We need some normal animals for this, okay?”

“Kurt, can you even morph like this?” Blaine asks worriedly.

“I guess,” Kurt grits out, trying not to let on how hurt he really is because he doesn’t want anyone to worry even more about him. “But I’m not sure I can walk or fly…”

“That’s okay,” Sam says. “Blaine, use your dog morph. Kurt, hide in his fur. And Blaine, if you could let Tina know that she can ease up on the distraction now and meet us at the car, that’d be great, too.”

Blaine nods and morphs immediately, nudging Kurt’s hand when he’s done to encourage him to try morphing as well. Kurt concentrates; it takes him longer than usual to get into the headspace for morphing, the pain limiting his focus immensely, but he finally shrinks into the canary and Sam places him on top of Blaine’s dog body, covering him with the long fur.

 _< Tina,>_ Blaine says. _< We’re coming out of the compound now, meet us at the car soon.>_

 _< Will do,>_ she replies immediately. _< I’m glad you got out.>_

Once they get to the door that separates them from the outside part of the zoo, Sam takes the keys and lets them out, locking it behind him as if he’s a zookeeper who’s supposed to be doing so, and pockets the key.

Blaine keeps a bit of a distance between Sam and them so as not to look as if they’re following him, and he keeps using thought-speak to talk Kurt through what’s happening. Kurt lets Blaine’s voice wash over him, gripping to it like a lifeline because there’s nothing else he can depend on at the moment.

Kurt registers some of the background noises as atypical of what one expects at a zoo – there’s some terrified screaming and people yelling for other people to stop panicking. Blaine tells him people are freaking out because there are loose animals, and while Kurt is sure Blaine explains _why_ animals are loose in the first place, he’s beyond the point of being able to reply, the pain of his wound dulling his senses completely.

Once he’s being pulled off Blaine by Sam and his friends lay him down on the backseat of his Navigator, they tell him to morph back, and he uses the last of his willpower to push himself through it until he’s human again.

Once he’s done, his vision fades to black.

* * *

There are so many voices. From hushed and hissing to calm and collected to loud and panicked, all of them bore into Kurt’s head like a drilling machine and making his head hurt.

He isn’t even aware he’s groaning but suddenly, the voices shut up collectively and the only thing Kurt hears is his own grunt.

It’s even worse than hearing others because the noise vibrates and echoes in his head.

“Hey, hey… easy.” That’s Santana’s voice and it’s coming from right next to him. Kurt leans into it subconsciously. “Don’t get up, you don’t want to rip the stitches.”

Stitches? Why does he have-

“Ooow,” he howls when he tries to move.

There’s a hand on his shoulder stilling his arm.

“Good, keep him down like that, Blaine,” Santana orders. “Kurt, listen to me. You need to keep still for a while, okay? Your wound isn’t fatal – it’s not even that deep – but you lost a lot of blood and you passed out. I, uh, I tried to fix it… my dad’s a doctor, he used to teach me some stuff when I was a kid but I’m not sure how good of a job I did with the stitches.” She touches his forehead with the back of her hand. “You don’t have a fever, though. That’s a good sign.”

“Hurts,” Kurt mumbles.

“I know it does,” Santana says gently. “I’m so sorry. It was our only option.”

“How long was I out?” Kurt asks, keeping his eyes closed for now. He doesn’t need to open them in order to know that they’re in a moving car; the surface he’s lying on is moving unpleasantly and there’s an engine buzzing softly.

“A few hours,” Blaine answers, his voice coming from somewhere above Kurt. “We went back to the house first to get our stuff, and Santana took care of your wound. Now we’re on our way to Lima.”

“Lima…” Kurt attempts to squeeze one eye open. Everything is blurry. “Why Lima?”

“Carole,” Blaine says. “We’re taking you to her so she can take a look at your stitching.”

“No!” Kurt ignores the pressure on his shoulder and the stabbing pain at his side when he gets up. “You can’t do that, we don’t know if she’s safe. And even if she is, Finn most definitely isn’t.”

There are several hands pressing him back down now, and Kurt complies begrudgingly.

“Kurt, my father’s a doctor but that doesn’t make me a trained nurse,” Santana tells him firmly. “Carole will be able to tell us if it’s done right.”

“So you’re going to tell her we’re saving the world from evil aliens, huh?” When he opens his eyes this time, he fights to keep them that way. “There’s two possible outcomes – either, she’s already controlled and we’re running right into the enemy’s open arms, or she’s innocent and we’re burdening her with something she doesn’t need to be a part of.”

 _< We don’t need to tell her about the aliens,>_ Brittany pipes up all of a sudden, and Kurt’s eyes look around frantically to find her in the car. He was right; it’s his Navigator, and Brittany is looking at him from over the edge of the front passenger seat. _< We’ll tell her you’ve been attacked by a bear in the woods. It’s not even a real lie.>_

“I- what- Brittany,” he splutters, barely refraining from trying to move again. “Where were you?! Why weren’t you guarding the keys?!”

“We got ambushed, Kurt,” Tina says, Kurt’s eyes localizing her on the front seat, driving his Navigator, but then Sam’s hand is blocking his view, gesticulating from the passenger seat.

“Tina, what the hell?” Sam says. “We agreed on not telling him in the car so he can rest.”

“He’s clearly not resting right now,” Tina defends herself. “And it’s not like we have anything better to do while we’re in here.”

“Yes, tell me,” Kurt demands. “What’s going on? We were ambushed?”

Tina glances at the backseat through the rearview mirror before explaining, “We were followed to the zoo. They saw you go into the bear compound and knocked out Brittany, replaced her with Lord Tubbington to stir confusion and closed the door so you wouldn’t get out.”

“So the Yeerks know who we are?” Kurt asks. “They know what we’re doing?”

 _< They seem to know about the morphing but apparently they have no idea how we communicate,> _Brittany says. _ <Santana noticed I wasn’t responding so she contacted you and by the time it was clear I wasn’t there and you were in danger, Santana already went after my kidnapper… my catnapper, I guess.>_

“Who was it?” Kurt wants to know, turning his head to the left to look at Santana, who’s got his legs hoisted up in her lap. “Did you get them?”

She doesn’t answer but Kurt catches the way she shares a look with Blaine, and he rests his head back on Blaine’s thigh, where it was apparently resting all along (and he’s not going to think about _that_ right now), and casts his gaze upwards to look at his best friend.

“Please, I want to know.” Kurt studies Blaine’s face, noticing how he’s clenching his jaw when Kurt addresses him specifically. “Was it Finn?”

“No.” Blaine shakes his head with a dark look on his face that Kurt isn’t used to seeing on him. “But it was someone we know. It’s-”

He gets cut off by a loud banging noise and a loud groan from the trunk and for the first time since he woke up, Kurt’s glad that Santana and Blaine are keeping a tight grip on him because otherwise he might have hurt himself badly by jumping up in shock.

“What was that noise and why is it coming from my trunk?” Kurt asks, bewildered.

“That, Kurt,” Blaine says grimly, “was our good friend Wes.”

“What?!” Kurt sits up again, and this time he swats away the hands that are holding him down with the arm on his unscathed side, ignoring the aching pain. “Wes is being controlled…?!”

“Yes.” Blaine puts his hand on Kurt’s shoulder again but uses it to get him in a half-seated position this time, probably figuring that they won’t be able to tame Kurt at the moment. “I was shocked, too… they must have figured out that some of us are at Dalton… it makes sense, they needed a spy and Wes and I are close.” He laughs bitterly. “They must have really rejoiced when I chose him out of all people to ask for help for our weekend trip. Really stepped into that one.”

Kurt’s eyes widen. It makes sense – whoever ambushed them clearly had access to the house since they were able to get Lord Tubbington before following them to the zoo. And it’s probably no accident, either, that Blaine and Kurt were the first to actually be attacked. They were the primary target of Wes’ spying range. Brittany just happened to be in the way – and easy to replace for a diversion tactic.

There’s another groan from the trunk, and Santana bangs against the row of seats. “Can it, jackass!”

“Blaine, I’m so sorry,” Kurt whispers. He knows that Blaine and Wes go long back, that they roomed together last year and that their families knew each other even before that. “That’s horrible.”

“It’s fine.” Blaine sighs, and turns his head to glare at the trunk. “At least Santana was able to catch him.”

“How…?”

“Oh, easy,” Santana says, grinning smugly. “I morphed into the cat because it knows Brittany’s scent well enough to be able to trace it… so I followed him to the parking lot where he was just trying to get into his car… and then I morphed into a rhino, hauled him up by his shirt with my horn. That made him lose his grip on Brittany. Then I set him down all nicely and gentle, like I usually am… and knocked him out with my rhino head. Boom, that’s how you take care of a controlled host, Lopez-style.”

Kurt needs a few seconds to process that.

“Okay…” He blinks. “So why is he in my trunk now?”

“That was my idea,” Blaine says with a small shrug. “So we can interrogate him later. We bound his feet and hands and gagged him.” He scowls at the trunk again. “But he still makes noises like a madman.”

Kurt doesn’t know whether it’s a good or a bad sign that the thought of getting to interrogate a hostage is making him perk up but maybe this is not a good time to question his morals, anyway.

Because he’s sure that if he goes on a quest to find his morals, he’ll find that he left them somewhere in that bear compound along with his innocence of never having killed anybody before and he just…

No.

He’s not going to think about that.

Instead, he turns to Santana again.

“So…” he says, “you have a rhino morph now, huh?”

“Told ya I was gonna save the world as a rhino, didn’t I?” Santana asks. “Besides, don’t deflect, Blaine filled us in on your little wildcat stunt.”

“Yeah, Kurt,” Sam says, turning around in his seat, “how did you get a tiger?!”

Kurt leans back a little when the memory and the pain comes back all of a sudden, and Blaine catches him immediately, guiding him back into lying with his head on his lap.

“Maybe now is not the best time to pester him with questions, guys,” Blaine says, but Kurt shakes his head. “He’s still hurt.”

“No, it’s alright.” He gives Blaine a small smile. “I’m fine.”

Any other time, Kurt would feel extremely bashful about the way Blaine doesn’t break their gaze when he starts carding his fingers through Kurt’s hair a little shyly, but right now it feels like heaven and the most welcome distraction, so he just leans into it and even hums a little.

God, how he wishes Sam would have been a few seconds late to the compound.

Maybe a few minutes, even.

It takes all of his willpower not to sigh at the memory.

“We’re not getting that tiger story, are we?” Sam asks, a little disappointed.

“Not much to tell.” Kurt attempts a one-armed shrug. “I… uh, borrowed the keys, went into the compound, snuck up on the tiger, touched it, went back out the same way I came from… and that’s it. In hindsight, I’m glad that wasn’t the compound I got trapped in, though.”

“How did you sneak up on it, though?” Tina asks with a frown. “It’s a tiger, Kurt, not a turtle…”

“I don’t know.” Kurt shakes his head slowly in order to try remembering how it happened, but he’s having difficulties recounting what exactly his thoughts had been. “Uhm, I had this… weird feeling… like it was going to be really easy despite the risk, I guess? I think I was more afraid of being seen than being killed by the tiger. It was really calm, too, no signs of attacking me… sorry, I really don’t remember that well.”

 _< Are we sure he didn’t break his brain?>_ Brittany asks.

“Well, however you did it – good for you, Kurt, a tiger is pretty fucking epic,” Santana says. “So, we have a rhino, a tiger, a bear, a gibbon and an alligator… I’d say that’s a pretty good outcome, even though I’m still not sure how a capuchin monkey is gonna help.”

“It’s agile.” Sam pouts. “It’ll come in handy when we need to be stealthy, I swear. Aladdin has one and he’s a thief, so… when you need something stolen, I’ll handle it.”

“So, Sam got a monkey like he wanted,” Blaine fills Kurt in quickly. “And Tina lucked out and found herself a reptile petting station so she morphed into an alligator when we were trapped in the bear compound to cause a riot.”

“I went crazy.” Tina grins. “I like being scary.”

 _Scary_. Kurt’s mind flashes back to the feeling of having blood all over his face and bear flesh between his teeth, and he tenses.

“Hey, you okay?” Blaine asks, stilling his hands on Kurt’s head.

“Yeah, yeah,” Kurt hurries to say, shaking himself out of the memory quickly. He knows Blaine doesn’t believe him but he doesn’t want the others to ask any questions so he focuses back on Tina. “Alligator on the loose… that explains the screaming in the zoo when we got out.”

“Oh yeah, everybody lost it,” Tina says. “I think we might have cost the Columbus Zoo a lot of money today… but, hey, it’s for a good cause, and since there’s no visual proof of us breaking in...”

“Fingerprints?” Kurt asks faintly, remembering how his must be all over the keys, but as if on cue, Sam turns around and dangles them in front of his face.

“I’ll keep these for now,” he says, “and in case they need to disappear, I’m sure I’ll find a place. And the bear was obviously killed by a tiger, not by a human so unless they believe some of the traumatized visitors that they saw people turn into animals, we should be okay.” He grins as he continues, “Plus, there was an alligator on the loose, clearly something went wrong in the zoo today.”

There’s a long silence after that until Brittany starts a game of “I spy with my little eye,” but since Kurt can’t actually look out the windows properly in his position, he opts out. Blaine claims he doesn’t want to play, either, and continues to play with Kurt’s hair instead, looking out of the window in thought.

It’s weird; Kurt’s wounded and surrounded by his very loud friends and there’s apparently an evil alien trapped in a friend’s body in the trunk behind them, but Kurt still feels so intimately close to Blaine in that moment that they might as well be sitting in a deserted field in the middle of nowhere.

He entertains himself with counting the stubble on Blaine’s chin for a few minutes but then the feeling of Blaine’s hands on his scalp and the dulling pain from his wound overpower him and he succumbs to sleep once again.

He doesn’t know how long he sleeps and he has no idea where they were exactly the first time he woke up but when Santana rouses him, they’re apparently only a few minutes away from Lima. However, it being Saturday, the streets are crowded with people going to the Sharing.

Stretching his limbs carefully with the help of Santana and Blaine, Kurt tests how limiting his wound is for further movements but decides he’s probably going to be able to walk on his own with someone supporting him.

“Guys, there really is a lot of traffic,” Tina says, obviously impatient and annoyed. “Is there a detour I can take that’ll get us to Kurt’s house faster?”

“Don’t bother,” Kurt says with a yawn. “I bet Carole’s gonna be at the Sharing anyway.”

“No, that’s actually good,” Blaine says. “Finn shouldn’t be there the whole day so we’ll be safe in the house, right? Maybe one of us can ask Carole to come home if she really is at the Sharing…?”

Kurt sighs. “I guess… I’m still not fully on board with this, though.”

“Kurt, I know I’m a stone-cold bitch most of the time,” Santana says, sighing deeply like he is being a baby (which he is _not_ , thank you very much), “but I’m not cold enough to let you die because I messed up the stitches, okay? Carole’s our best shot so just roll with it, please.”

It’s a rare opportunity to have Santana admitting to feelings and even rarer to hear her ask for something nicely, so Kurt actually lets her win this argument. “Okay… thank you, Santana.”

It’s not that he’s keen on an infection or possible long-term consequences of his wound. He just doesn’t want to endanger any of his friends or family members.

Half an hour later, they finally get to Kurt’s street, and Kurt immediately notices his dad’s car in the driveway.

“My dad’s home,” he says with a sigh. “You guys do realize that he’s not gonna be okay with four people, a double cat and his wounded son barging in on him watching football or something, especially not if we also bring in an alien hostage, right?”

 _< But we’re not gonna bring the hostage,>_ Brittany says. _< We’ll leave him in the trunk. Tina’s staying in the car to guard him.>_

“Great,” Kurt mutters. Even without Wes in tow, he can only imagine what his dad’s reaction to all of this is going to be, and he knows he can rule out smiles and sunshine.

Their entire group looks ridiculous; Santana is holding Brittany and Sam her DNA protoype, Blaine is propping Kurt up on his arm, and trying to get the door open with the keys in his other hand.

As soon as they’re inside, Kurt immediately shushes everyone. His dad is recovering from a heart attack, after all. Looking at Kurt in his current state will be scary enough for him.

“Dad!” he shouts, and lets Blaine half-carry him in the direction of the living room. “Are you-”

The words die in his throat as he takes in the scene before him in the living room. He’s not quite sure what he’s looking at exactly but… there are Finn and Carol, both sitting on chairs in front of the fireplace, ropes holding them in place, shaking with the effort of getting out of their restraints, and then there’s Burt, holding the leftover rope, and looking at Kurt in obvious shock.

Blaine goes absolutely rigid next to him, and Kurt knows he’d do the same if it wasn’t for the pain buzzing inside of him.

“Kurt…” his dad says, clearly not knowing what else to say, “I… wasn’t expecting you…?”

“Oh, this isn’t our typical Saturday afternoon tea party?” Kurt deadpans. “I can see that you weren’t expecting anyone, dad – what is all this?!”

His dad doesn’t answer right away but Finn lets out a whimper and turns to Kurt and Blaine with pleading eyes.

“Help us, he’s crazy!” he exclaims, an actual sob escaping him, and Carole joins in with pleas for help, sounding downright desperate.

Kurt falters for a second – Finn behaves exactly like he always does, what if he got rid of his alien and it’s his dad who’s evil now…? – but Blaine steps forward and growls at Finn.

“You don’t get to say a word,” he grits out. “You’re-”

“Blaine, how do we know-” Kurt starts, but Blaine cuts him off right away.

“You didn’t see Wes, Kurt – he started with the same bullshit Finn’s trying to play you with now.”

“No, Kurt, please, it’s me, I swear!” Finn cries out, and Kurt’s eyes are drawn to him, all helpless and struggling. Is that really _not_ his brother?

Kurt averts his gaze quickly, not able to stand the thought that he can’t even tell Finn apart from an alien. He turns to Carole, who’s looking at him with wide eyes, filled to the brim with tears like she can’t believe he doesn’t recognize her, and he has to tear his eyes away again because it’s nearly impossible to decide what’s real and what isn’t.

He gulps, and Blaine’s arm that’s still supporting him tightens around his waist.

“They sound like themselves,” Blaine says softly, “but the Yeerks are clever, they copy their behavior perfectly.”

Kurt lets his gaze flicker back to his dad, and lets relief wash through his body at the sight of him. Nobody could feign the genuine surprise that shows on Burt Hummel’s face in that moment.

“You… you know,” he says, dumbfounded and actually sitting down on the couch like he can’t take the news while standing. “How…?”

“How do _you_ know?” Sam asks curiously.

Kurt turns around slightly to take a look at his friends all gathering in the doorway, looking just as surprised as everyone else in the room. When he turns back around, his father’s eyes fixate on Kurt’s torso.

“You’re injured,” he breathes out. “Kurt, what-”

“That’s a very long story,” Kurt interrupts. “But I’m fine, the pain is manageable. I’d rather like to know how you found out that these two are not your wife and step-son anymore, and why they’re tied up in our living room.”

“That’s... it’s a very long story,” Burt echoes with a sigh. “And for your information, however manageable your pain is, I’m not okay with you standing there while you’re wounded like that. We’re gonna get you upstairs to your bed and we can talk there. And you’re also getting some painkillers.” When Kurt gives him a look, Burt rolls his eyes and says, “Don’t tell me you don’t need them, Kurt, I can see you grit your teeth every ten seconds or so. Blaine, Sam, help him up the stairs.”

Sam hesitates. “What about Fi- I mean… them?” He points to the hosts. “We shouldn’t leave them unsupervised, should we?”

“Yeah, and we have another hostage in Kurt’s trunk,” Santana pipes up.

Burt raises both of his eyebrows. “Uhm, yeah, alright… why don’t you get your… hostage, and we’ll take them upstairs with us.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Blaine asks, eyes going back and forth between Burt and the rest of Kurt’s tied-up family. “They’ll overhear us talking…”

Burt shakes his head. “Not a problem. Carole’s almost free, anyway, and I plan on killing that beast inside of her.”

Carole visibly flinches at his words. Kurt glances at her briefly before letting his eyes wander back to his dad.

“What do you mean, almost free?” he asks. “How do you kill it?”

“You’ll see.” Burt grimaces. “I’ll tell you all about it but for now, please just go upstairs and lie down.”

His words prompt Sam to come over and help Blaine hoist Kurt up a little so that walking is easier for him.

“And somebody get Tina and Wes… well, Wes’ occupier… from the car,” Blaine reminds their friends, and Santana turns to the door immediately.

“I’ll do that,” she says, a vicious gleam in her eye. “I like torturing him. Brittany, Lord Tubbington, wanna keep me company?”

Both cats follow her to the door, and Kurt can see the way his dad’s eyes follow the two animals.

“Brittany…?” he asks, brows furrowing.

Everybody sighs.

“It’s a long story,” they chant in unison.

“Okay…” Burt shakes his head to himself before he points to the boys. “Get Kurt upstairs, I’m gonna get something to drink. Anyone want anything?”

“I’ll have a whiskey,” Santana drawls from the doorway, and Burt rolls his eyes.

“Non-alcoholic drinks!” he shouts after her sternly. “Just because you’re aware of the extraterrestrial population of this town doesn’t mean I’m not going to treat you like the minors you are.”

Normally, Kurt would laugh at Santana’s annoyed groan but there’s something about finding out your father’s very well informed on the alien apocalypse happening in your town that makes it hard to find anything as funny as it used to be.

* * *

As it turns out, Burt Hummel is not only clued in on everything that’s happening, he’s actually much more informed than any of them. At first, Kurt thinks he’s only humoring them by nodding along to what they tell him (being the strict father he is, of course he made them go first with their explanation) but the more they tell him, the more Kurt gets the feeling that his dad doesn’t need an explanation as much as he needs a status report.

“You know all of this stuff,” Kurt says, deciding to cut to the chase and finally get his dad to talk. “Nothing we just said surprised you.”

“No,” Burt admits, and throws Kurt an apologetic look. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m terrified that my own son has been chosen to be a part of this but then again, deep down, I always wondered…”

“Wondered what, exactly?” Kurt asks, putting as much urgency into his voice as he can muster. He can’t believe they’re in a situation like this and he still has to worm everything out of his dad. “Who _are_ you?”

Burt runs a hand through his face. He looks… tired. It’s not a look Kurt likes to see on his dad, especially not after his heart attack.

But this is a different kind of tired. It’s not a health thing. This is his dad under actual stress.

It’s understandably a stressful situation for his dad, what his wife and step-son as well as a stranger he’s never met tied to chairs right next to the bed his wounded son is resting on, surrounded by said son’s alien-fighting friends... but Kurt has a feeling there’s something else that’s wrong.

“Dad, please,” he huffs out. “Are you…” He struggles with the word. “Can you morph, too?”

“No. I’m just your plain old dad.” Burt sighs, closing his eyes. When they reopen, he’s taking Kurt’s hand in his, and looks like he’s steeling himself for the next part. “But your mom could.”

His… his mom.

Kurt suddenly feels as if someone dumped an ice bucket over his head; he feels like shuddering and yelling and crying, and it takes all of his willpower to stay rooted on the spot when all he wants is to run.

His mom could morph. His mom was…

“She was like me?” he whispers, only faintly aware of how everyone in the room is gaping at either him or his dad, but it doesn’t matter, all that matters is that he’s learning something new about his mom, something that his dad has kept from him all these years, something that Burt has known at _least_ since Kurt was eight years old, since his mom died.

“No, Kurt.” Burt shakes his head. “You- well, she wasn’t… she was… she couldn’t _just_ morph.”

“I- what…” Kurt’s vision starts blurring around the edges. “What are you saying?”

His dad takes a deep breath.

“Kurt, Elizabeth was an Andalite.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops, yet another cliffhanger. Starting to think this may start happening more frequently? Maybe...
> 
> I'm afraid that you'll have to sit this one out just a tad bit longer than usual as I am not going to be around next week (or, well, not around a constant wifi connection, at any rate) and will upload the next chapter in two weeks! So, blaine with me (haha get it... 'cause 'bear'?........ okay maybe not *hides face*), I promise to make it up to you! :D


	5. A Lot Can Happen in a Weird Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I am so so so so sorry for leaving you hanging last week! I was sick and apparently so busy that I actually forgot to update my own fanfic. But to make up for it, I will post two updates this week, so expect the next one in the next 1-3 days! :)
> 
> Okay, I'm done. Enjooooy.

Blaine’s eyes are on Kurt as soon as Burt’s words fully sink in. Kurt is looking at his dad in shock, a tear rolling down his face.

Blaine gulps in sympathy when Kurt stays silent. What do you say to someone who just revealed to you that your mother was an alien?

Apparently, nothing, because Kurt’s whole body seems to be frozen; his mouth is slack and Blaine can spot several other tears are joining the pioneer, which he knows would drive Kurt wild usually but right now, he doesn’t make any moves to stop them from flowing down his cheeks.

Blaine wishes he could say something to break the tension, to comfort Kurt, something helpful at least, but he’s blanking.

_< But I’ve seen pictures of Kurt’s mom,>_ Brittany breaks the long silence. _< She didn’t look like an Andalite.>_

Burt nods at Brittany’s words, though he doesn’t take his eyes off Kurt.

“You’re right, Brittany, she didn’t look like one,” he says. “That’s because she was a Nothlit, just like you, Brittany.”

“A what?!” Santana asks, at the same time as Brittany replies coolly, _< Excuse you? I’m a cat.>_

“A Nothlit,” Burt repeats. “Someone who stays in a permanent morph. Yours was accidental but Elizabeth… Kurt’s mom… she loved humans. She did it on purpose, and she was shunned by her peers for it. She was originally sent to earth as a guardian, to keep the Yeerks from infiltrating human minds.” He sighs. “But she fell in love with me, morphed forever, and decided to stay beyond her assigned term of service. She married me and… we had Kurt.”

Blaine still hasn’t taken his eyes off Kurt who has started trembling as soon as Burt started talking again. He looks like he is fighting very hard not to cry out loud but little sniffs escape him nonetheless.

Blaine wants to hold his hand but by the time he reaches out for Kurt, he’s finally breaking out of his trance and wiping away the tears.

“I can’t- I just can’t believe you never told me any of that,” Kurt whispers brokenly. “That you kept all of that from me.”

“Kurt, I couldn’t,” Burt says, moving closer. “I promise I wanted to tell you everything but… I promised her. She said you were born human, conceived in her human form, and that you didn’t need to be burdened with all of this. She wanted a life free of worries for you.”

“Well, that worked out _perfectly_ ,” Kurt spits, voice filling with venom. “Was she the last guardian or something? Because last time I checked, Yeerks actually did start infiltrating people’s minds and I have alien powers now, dad, so whatever job she thinks she did here on earth, she managed it very poorly, and-”

“Kurt, hey, stop,” Blaine interrupts suddenly, using both hands to steer Kurt back down onto the mattress when he starts sitting up. “Don’t hurt yourself.”

“I _am_ already hurt, Blaine,” Kurt says, annoyed, but Blaine doesn’t relent. Kurt might not be concerned for his health but he’s not the one who had to watch his wound closely during their way back from Columbus, not the one who had to watch his body contort in obvious pain while he was sleeping it off. “And what’s more,” Kurt continues, looking back to his father now, “I’m hurt that I’ve been lied to my whole life by my own father, I can’t believe-”

“Guys, there’s something _really_ strange happening to Carole!” Tina cuts in loudly, making all of their heads turn towards their three hostages.

Carole’s body is vibrating and shaking without pause and her eyes are bulging out of her face slightly. Kurt tries to get up again but Blaine keeps him firmly in place. They watch in horror as Carole’s head leans to the right slightly as if she’s tilting it in question and then as, suddenly, something grey starts slipping out of her ear.

“It’s coming!” Burt announces, getting up. “I need to get my shotgun from downstairs.”

“The shotgun?!” Sam asks, head snapping up with wide eyes. “Are you going to shoot her?”

“No, I-” Burt watches as Carole’s body convulses even more and seems to be torn between staying and making sure that she’s okay and going to get his weapon. “I’ll… I’ll explain later, I just need to get-”

He breaks off when Carole lets out a wail so loud it makes Blaine’s ears ring. Burt just stands there, absolutely helpless, as his wife’s body doubles over in obvious pain and the noises she emits just don’t stop.

“Don’t bother,” Santana decides, stepping out of the group to morph, her limbs turning thick and grey as she falls forward, fully morphed into a rhino before she even hits the ground. _< I’ll  handle it.>_

Blaine winces at the cracking sound coming from the floor and the way Santana’s morphing body smashed Kurt’s desk chair against the wall.

Hopefully they won’t all die because Santana makes them fall through the floor or accidentally suffocates them.

“Santana!” Tina gasps. “Don’t you think you’re a bit… ah, voluminous…?”

It’s surprising to see Tina comment on it first because if Blaine had had to bet money on it, he would have said that Kurt would have beaten everyone to the punch – but when he turns to look at Kurt, he sees him shaking and close to tears. It seems like he hasn’t even noticed the rhino next to his bed because – Blaine’s eyes follows Kurt’s line of sight and land on Burt – his dad is watching his wife shake off the alien invader with an expression of pure pain, his hands trembling and his eyes wet.

“Hey, dad,” Kurt says softly, taking Burt’s hand back in his. “Sorry I yelled at you.”

“I love you, Kurt,” Burt mutters. “I never wanted you to have to live with this…”

“Well, it’s too late for that. But we can share the burden from now on, don’t you think?” Kurt asks with a shrug. “I love you, too, dad.”

Carole slumps to the side all of a sudden, the Yeerk falling out of her ear with a loud thump. It looks like she’s unconscious, and Blaine sees both Kurt and Burt flinch at the sight.

He can’t help it this time when he reaches out for Kurt’s hand and intertwines their fingers, and he doesn’t regret his move when Kurt smiles back at him gratefully.

_< Can it hurt me?>_ Santana asks, seeming impatient. _< I just want to kill it, once and for all.>_

“It can’t hurt you in its natural state,” Tina says, eyes rolling up to the ceiling like she’s trying to recall what it said in her notebook. “It should be perfectly mortal.”

“It is,” Burt agrees. “Just stomp on it or-”

Santana lowers her head and runs into the slug horn first, spearing the Yeerk when it collides with the wall (the floor isn’t the only thing making crackling sounds this time, Blaine notices with a flinch) and effectively tearing its body in half, some oozy body fluids splashing from its body.

“… or that,” Burt mumbles. “That works.”

Blaine knows he’s making a face. He can’t help it. It’s probably the grossest thing he’s ever seen.

_< Done and done,>_ Santana says smugly. _< Let me just…>_

She retracts her horn from the slug’s body, shaking her head like she’s trying to get rid of the juices and morphs back to her human form, everyone shuddering when her face emerges from her rhino morph covered in grey slime.

“Okay… _ew_ ,” she says, running a finger through the goo. “That’ll be the last time I ever do that. Stomping it is from now on.”

_< I think it looks hot,>_ Brittany says, voice awed, and everyone groans – everyone save for Burt, who is hurrying over to Carole, loosening the rope that is keeping her to the chair.

“Is she okay?” Kurt asks feebly.

Burt nods. “She’ll be fine, she’s just out of it…”

“You knew Carole was going to be first,” Blaine says, turning to Burt. “How…?”

“They need to charge,” Burt explains. “I knew Carole was taken three days ago, she came back from the hospital acting weird, and Finn’s explanation just seemed off… I didn’t figure it out until this morning when they almost tried to drag me to the Sharing.” He shakes his head at the memory. “Anyway, the Yeerks can only stay in a body for three days and then they need to regain energy… they need this substance. I forgot the name but they sort of… swim in it, I guess? That’s how Elizabeth explained it...”

“The cave,” Tina breathes out. “It had a pool. It’s not just a place to recruit people… the- the cave must be their charging station.”

“And that’s what Puck meant when he said he needed to charge,” Kurt pipes up.

“So that’s the place they should be at their weakest, right?” Blaine asks. “When they need to charge, they have to be in their alien form, so we could attack them there – all we need to find out is how to get down to the cave.”

“It could be dangerous, though,” Tina points out. “I mean, we did see in the video that they have cages filled with people to recruit… there might be guards, too. They could hold us down and turn us into one of them. We’ll have to come up with a strategic plan.”

“ _Hello_ , can everyone zip it for a minute and maybe get me a towel or something?” Santana cuts in, gesturing to her slime-covered face with an annoyed wave of her arms. “I mean, I don’t expect a party or anything for being the first of us to actually kill one of these disgusting slug monsters but giving credit where it’s due and maybe helping me get the slug’s fucking _body_ off my face wouldn’t kill anyone, would it?”

Blaine chuckles and pulls out a bunch of tissues from his pocket with his free hand, feeling Kurt squeeze the other in amusement when he attempts to bow in front of Santana. “There you go, oh brave one,” Blaine teases, and Santana flashes him a playful grin.

“That’s more like it,” she comments, hastily wiping the grey goo off her face. “Now, I do think-”

She gets cut off by a loud groan coming from Carole’s direction. Blaine can barely keep Kurt from leaping off the bed to rush to her aid, but he squeezes their joint hands firmly and manages to keep Kurt somewhat at bay – it probably helps that Burt is right there when Carole starts waking up, and Kurt visibly relaxes when his dad gently cups his wife’s face and murmurs words of encouragement as she comes to.

“Burt…” Carole mumbles as her eyes blink open enough to focus on her surroundings. “I need to- oh, I can… there’s… the Yeerk, my controller… is she gone? The one that controlled me?”

Blaine raises his eyebrows. Either Carole was aware of the alien apocalypse or they just learned something very valuable for their cause – that hosts have full access to their memory after being controlled.

“Yes, she’s gone,” Burt replies soothingly, smiling at her. “You’re okay.”

Carole turns around to where Finn and Wes are still tied to the chairs. “And Finn, is he still…?”

“He’s still under control. I’m not sure how long we have to wait for him.” Burt sighs. “I don’t want to push you too much but it’s important… what do you remember, love?”

Carole’s lips tremble. “Finn… Finn, he was a-acting strange the other night and I tried asking him about it… I thought he was having girl trouble again or… well, anything, just not-“ She shakes her head violently. “He told me it was his grades, and that Principal Figgins wanted to talk to both of us. When I went to the meeting the next day… Finn… he… he…”

“Deep breath,” Burt mutters softly.

Carole nods, her eyes watering, and she inhales and exhales shakily a few times before continuing, “He started saying weird stuff. That I wouldn’t get away with being so nosy, that I’d see reason soon enough.” She looks up with wide eyes. “Burt, I thought he wanted to kill me.”

A sob escapes her, and Burt looks like he wants to follow suit.

Finn’s controller is still gagged but it looks like he’s trying to smirk, and Blaine’s stomach turns at the thought of him enjoying his victim’s mother in pain.

Blaine’s faintly aware of how hard Kurt is gripping his hand. He can barely hold himself together but he tries to stay calm for Kurt.

“It wasn’t him, Carole,” Blaine says, voice coming out scratchy and weak. Carole’s head whips around to him like she’s remembering all of a sudden that there are other people in the room. “It’s really scary and it seems real but I promise it wasn’t him.”

“Yeah.” Carole wipes at her cheek. “Yeah, I… I know that now.” She takes another deep breath. “I was so terrified, I couldn’t even do anything to defend myself when he knocked me out. Next thing I knew I woke up at the hospital – apparently, Finn brought me in, claiming I fainted at the meeting. And… I woke up in my body but… I wasn’t _there_. I wasn’t- I wasn’t in control. Something took over for me. I could hear and see and feel everything as usual but I had no control over what I was doing.” Carole shudders visibly. “I took out a coworker who tried to stop me when I left.”

“Not your fault,” Burt says immediately. “You didn’t do it.”

“I know. But I was there,” Carole insists, her face turning pale. “God, what if I killed her?”

“You didn’t,” Burt replies gently. “I checked the news, they would have reported a murder. Right now, the Yeerks aren’t looking to kill anyone. They’re recruiting… or so I’ve been told.”

“Yeah, I heard all that,” Carole mumbles, gesturing to everyone in the room. “And good thing you killed my captor because she was prepared to leak all the information she got to her supervisors in case she got out alive.” She pauses and tilts her head in the direction of the wall where Santana killed the Yeerk. “Though she probably wouldn’t have made it anyway, they just wither and die without Kandrona.”

Kandrona, as Carole explains when she’s met with clueless faces, is the liquid substance the Yeerks need to swim in to charge and regain their energy. Sam’s whole face lights up when Carole mentions it, at once asking how to get into the cave they know must be the charging station, but Carole twists her mouth with an unsure expression and tells them she wouldn’t know because she was unconscious when the Yeerk started controlling her.

“Bummer,” Santana says. “We never seem to catch a break, do we?”

At the beginning of all of this, Blaine would have probably agreed with her, not satisfied with the lack of information they had. But now? Now they have gained an ally in Burt, someone with an actual connection to the Andalites, and they have access to secret intel from three alien vessels – as soon as their controllers leave their body, that is. Unless…

He lets go of Kurt’s hand – oh, and he’s going to file the feeling of Kurt trying to hold on when he does away for later – to walk over to Finn and Wes.

“What are you doing, Blaine?” Tina asks curiously.

Blaine doesn’t reply – his plan should be fairly obvious in about a minute. And he did have interrogating Wes in mind when he put him in the trunk of Kurt’s car, anyway.

Blaine eyes up the two controllers for a few seconds, wondering how it’s possible that it only takes cold, almost dead eyes to make familiar faces look so foreign.

_That’s not Wes,_ he reminds himself before pulling off Wes’ gag.

“Filthy Andalite-helping scum,” the controller spits immediately.

Blaine tries not to flinch at the voice that is too icy to belong to someone as kind as Wes.

He schools his expression into calculated boredom. “Funny,” he says, dragging the word a little to sound more intimidating. “Filthy is the word I’d use for what’s left of your friend’s body over there.” He points to the spot on the wall that Santana tainted with slug goo. “We wouldn’t want you to become filthy, _dead_ Yeerk scum, now, would we?”

Wes’ eyes flicker to the spot, then back to Blaine’s face. It’s enough to tell Blaine he’s onto something. Even if they’re not scared for their own lives – which Blaine hopes they are because it’ll make threatening them easier – these two will go down with viable information that would help their cause. They know too much to stay alive, and they know it.

“What do you want?” Wes grits out.

“Information,” Blaine says simply. “I want to know who your leader is.”

Wes smiles. “Visser Two.”

That _bastard_. He knows exactly that Yeerk names are useless information when they need names – or faces – of the humans they’re controlling.

“Who is the vessel?” he asks, putting all of his annoyance into his words to show that his patience is running out.

Wes shakes his head slowly, smile not subsiding.

“You can’t threaten me, Blaine,” he says, and the use of Blaine’s name, even in Wes’ voice, just seems _wrong_. “It doesn’t matter what I say. I’m not getting out of here alive. You want your friend back, so you’ll wait until I need to get out and then I’m dead anyway. And you can’t torture me until then because you’d have to hurt your friend as long as I’m in his body.”

He’s got a point, of course. Blaine was hoping the Yeerk wouldn’t be that smart. Then again, it’s not their only hope.

“I can wait,” Blaine says, shrugging nonchalantly. “Just three days maximum, right? If you want to get it over with faster, be my guest.”

“I’ll take my time, thanks.” Wes glares. “We’re coming for you, anyway.”

“Can you just gag him again, please?” Santana asks, rolling her eyes. “I’m sure we’ll find their dumbass leader without their help.”

Blaine lifts up a finger as a sign for her to wait.

“So you won’t tell us where the entrance to that cave is?” he asks, pouting for good measure.

“No chance.” Wes laughs. “Did you really think I’d tell you anything at all?”

“Nah.” Blaine grins. “I’m just counting on you _thinking_ about it when I ask you. Wes is in there somewhere, though, and he witnesses all your thoughts. He can tell us the location later.” He tilts his head. Wes looks furious, and Blaine can’t help but look smug at that. He’s making an alien squirm. Go him. “In a way, I’m just making sure you don’t go down without being any help at all.”

He doesn’t wait for a reply, just shuts Wes up again with the gag, and turns to the others who all smile at him.

“Dude, that was smart,” Sam says.

Blaine ducks his head. “Well… Carole made me think of it.” He turns to her. “Does it work that way? You hear all of their thoughts? Because if it doesn’t, we still have nothing.”

“No, you were right” she says. “If he thinks of the entrance, Wes will know. My controller even talked to me in thoughts, sometimes.”

“Did she tell you anything else that would help us out?” Kurt asks, speaking for the first time since Carole woke up, and Carole looks at him like she wants to facepalm.

“Kurt! I need to check your stitches!” she exclaims, getting up from the chair at once and hurrying over to his side and drawing the blanket to the side to look at his wound.

Kurt snaps his finger at her. “Not important,” he says quickly. “I’m fine. I’d rather know anything _you_ know so we can get this whole thing over with.”

“I can talk and work at the same time,” Carole hums, kneeling down so she can see his stitches better.

Blaine gets back to the other side of Kurt’s bed, not wanting to miss her diagnosis.

“Who stitched you up?” she asks, looking impressed.

“I did,” Santana says, and when Carole turns to smile at her, the relief in her voice is apparent when she continues, “I was worried I’d butcher him.”

“No, this looks good,” Carole says. “No need to redo them just now but I still want to wash the edges of the wound and put some ointment on it. Burt, can you grab my kit from downstairs?”

Kurt flings his head back onto the pillow with an overdramatic sigh. Blaine shakes his head at him fondly, and when their eyes meet, Kurt glares at him until he too has to crack a grin.

The grin slips off his face when Carole starts dabbing the wound with a disinfectant liquid. Blaine hisses in sympathy as Kurt’s mouth twitches and his eyes squeeze shut in pain.

“So you said you were going to tell us more…?” Blaine prompts, both wanting to know and trying to provide Kurt with a welcome distraction.

Kurt opens on eye to look at Blaine – it looks strained but Blaine can see the appreciation, and he smiles down at him.

“Oh, right!” Carole says, blushing. “I’m not sure all of it is important, especially since my controller wasn’t very important and didn’t know anyone of higher rank… she was heavily focused on getting Burt to the Sharing to make him one of them, so most of her thoughts were dedicated to that.”

“That much effort for just one person?” Tina asks.

“They feared he might have connections,” Carole says. “They know about Elizabeth… I don’t think they know about Kurt because my controller seemed surprised that he was… um.”

“Half-alien?” Kurt provides, sounding like he’d be rolling his eyes right now if they weren’t still closed.

“… Andalite offspring,” Carole says instead. “Anyway, that wasn’t the connection they thought Burt would have. They thought he might know about the new guardian.”

_< What new guardian?>_ Brittany asks, hopping onto the bed. _< Another Andalite?>_

“Yes.” Carole nods while she rummages in her first-aid kit. “After Elizabeth died, they needed a new guardian. They’re fairly sure it’s someone at school, someone who could easily infiltrate them and might even be spying on them. At least that’s what Finn’s controller thinks. It’s dangerous because they have so many recruits at McKinley that the Andalite could easily pretend to be one of them while planning an attack.”

“I never knew how… uh, ouch- how right I was whenever I referred to McKinley as a hell hole riddled with evil,” Kurt gets out, groaning when Carole puts more ointment on the part of his wound that’s most sensitive.

“Sorry, Kurt,” she says. “I’m almost done.”

“So, we have three main concerns now, right?” Tina asks, looking at everyone in the round briefly. “One – we need to find the entrance to the cave if we want to attack them. Two – we need to know who leads them so we can take that bastard out. Three – someone at McKinley might be on our side and we need to know who.”

There’s some arguing after that, ranging from guesses and clues as to who their leader might be (“My money is on Sue Sylvester, even in human form she just screams evil,” Santana says, squinting her eyes like she is picturing tearing her coach apart), where to find the cave _( <I bet it’s the second-floor girls’ bathroom like in Harry Potter!>_ Brittany pipes up excitedly) as well as when and where to strike (it’s probably too early to attack even though they do have better morphs now). The only thing nobody has any thoughts on is the identity of the Andalite guardian.

“We should focus on that first!” Kurt insists for the third time even though nobody is listening because they’re all spewing off theories from the top of their heads.

In the end, it’s Carole who puts an end to the arguing.

“Alright!” she yells, louder than Blaine has ever heard her. “You kids are certainly entertaining but it’s been established that nobody is going to attack alien underground bases tonight and I suggest you all get some good night’s sleep before you even attempt to come up with a plan. You’re too riled up right now and Kurt needs rest anyway.”

Kurt tries to push himself up at that and she pushes him back down firmly.

“I mean it, Kurt, or I’m going to ground you, alien apocalypse or not.”

Blaine can see Burt grinning at his wife, and he can’t help but smile as well because she certainly makes a great stern mom when she wants to be. She manages to convince everyone, including Kurt, that they shouldn’t be making any rash decisions after the day they’ve had.

Santana and Brittany are the first ones to head home but Sam and Tina stay behind to help clean up the mess Santana made when she killed the Yeerk. Kurt briefly bemoans the bump in his wall that the rhino’s horn left but the painkillers finally make him drowsy enough not to start a redecorating campaign right away.

When they’re done with cleaning and Sam and Tina leave as well, Blaine tends to Kurt, making sure he stays hydrated enough and helping him to the bathroom when he needs to go, and only jumps to his feet when Kurt’s already snoring softly and Carole asks him to help Burt and her with dinner with a knowing smile on her face that makes Blaine blush.

Preparing dinner with Kurt’s parents without Kurt there feels a bit weird. He knows both of them well enough to make easy conversation – he even dares to steal a few cherry tomatoes from the salad bowl and to make Carole suspect Burt by pointing his finger at him when she notices they’re missing. But he’s never been around them without Kurt before and more than once he wishes he could share an amused look with him or just cut the vegetables into slices alongside him because it’s just more fun when Kurt is there to joke around or sing with him.

Burt goes to wake Kurt up from his nap when dinner’s ready, which leaves Blaine and Carole to set the dining table. Kurt looks adorably sleepy when he joins them but considerably less pale than he has been looking before, and when his stomach growls loudly, he steals a glance towards Blaine, blushes, and announces, “Let’s eat, you can ask questions about my well-being later.”

Over dinner, Blaine hesitantly broaches the topic of sleeping over, not wanting to impose but still needing a place to stay for the night. Of course, Burt and Carole agree at once – after all, they wouldn’t make him drive back all the way to Dalton that late at night, especially since Kurt would have to go with him because they drove in his Navigator. Still, he figures it’s only polite to thank them profusely; it’s a difficult time for them as a family, what with Kurt injured and Finn still under alien control, and he doesn’t want to take their kindness for granted. Both of them dismiss his little speech with a wave of their hands, though.

“Nonsense, honey,” Carole tells him. “We’re happy to have you. Now, you probably need something to sleep in… I recommend something of Kurt’s, you’d probably disappear in Finn’s pajamas.”

“Mine won’t fit all that well either,” Kurt comments with a small smirk and a teasing crinkle around his eyes. “But I still have clothes from the time before my growth spurt, those might do.”

Blaine kind of wants to elbow Kurt for making a joke about his height but he also needs to focus on not blushing at the very pleasant reality of Kurt’s offer to share his clothes with him.

“Uh, I have pajamas packed from our weekend trip,” he admits nevertheless, albeit somewhat reluctantly. “But thank you.”

“Will you need anything else?” Carole ponders. “A towel…?”

“Not necessary, I packed some as well,” Blaine says. “But if you just give me some sheets, I can make up the couch myself, you won’t need to worry about-”

“The couch?” Burt shakes his head. “You’re not sleeping on the couch, Blaine.”

Blaine drops his following speech of how he wouldn’t be much of a burden and could set up his sleeping space on his own in favor of looking at Burt in confusion.

“I- I won’t…?”

“The living room doesn’t have a lock,” Burt says, shrugging, “and with the increased alien activity _and_ alien hostages in this very house, I’m not going to let you sleep in an unsafe room. And I put Wes and Finn in Finn’s room so you can’t sleep there, either – too dangerous.”

“So you’re sleeping in my room,” Kurt says, sharing a look with his dad that suggests that they have discussed the issue before they joined Carole and Blaine for dinner.

“Oh.” Blaine pops a tomato in his mouth quickly to keep himself busy because otherwise he will _look_ like that tomato. “Okay.”

He figures there’s not much grounds to fight either of them on their decision, especially since he doesn’t particularly _want_ to fight them. And, anyway, it does seem a little silly to worry over something like sleeping arrangements when there’s an alien apocalypse to prepare for.

Yet… the look he shares with Kurt after things are settled makes Blaine’s insides turn to jelly. He hasn’t forgotten what almost happened this morning at the zoo, and Kurt’s flushed cheeks tell him he’s probably thinking about it as well.

That thought alone is responsible for Blaine’s sudden avoidance of Burt’s gaze for the rest of dinner. He really doesn’t want to press his luck.

Thankfully, Carole provides a useful distraction by asking questions about their weekend and their abilities in general. It’s clear that she’s still tense, especially considering that her son is still being held hostage by an alien – and kind of held double hostage, now that Blaine thinks of it – and her face falls every time he’s mentioned.

Blaine thinks of ways to cheer her up but, before he can deliver on any of his ideas, Kurt speaks up about something else.

“Dad?” he starts tentatively. “Can you… can you tell me more about mom?”

Blaine looks down onto his plate. It feels like a private moment, and he knows he’s welcome to witness it – otherwise Kurt wouldn’t have started the conversation – but he doesn’t feel comfortable openly watching Burt react to the question.

Burt’s voice is quiet soft when he answers, “What do you want to know?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Blaine can see Kurt poke his fork around in the food without actually picking up a bite.

“Is everything else you’ve told me about her true?” Kurt finally asks. “I mean…”

“You want to know if I’ve only withheld the alien detail from you, or if I’ve actually lied about other things,” Burt guesses.

“… yeah.”

“It’s all true,” Burt says with conviction. “I swear, Kurt, every story is true. With the added detail of her being extraterrestrial.” Blaine thinks he can actually _hear_ Burt smile. “She danced around in her underwear whenever her favorite Beatles song was playing. She sang you to sleep every night and she always finished the song, even when you were already asleep by the time she reached the first chorus. And she loved you very, very much.”

The fork stops poking.

“Did she really?” Kurt asks, voice breaking.

“Of course she did,” Burt replies immediately, and Blaine doesn’t have to look up to know that everyone is tearing up. He has a rather large lump in his throat himself. “She was your mom, Kurt. She loved you more than anything in the world. I swear, it was almost unbearable sometimes, she was so infatuated with you… she would let you do anything.”

Blaine smiles down at his lap. He can _so_ imagine a little Kurt having his mom completely smitten with his cunning ways.

“Did she-” Kurt cuts off, clearing his throat. “Did she really die of cancer then?”

“Yes, she did.” Burt sighs. “An Andalite would normally be able to withstand the illness but her human body didn’t let her access that part of her.”

Blaine can’t help but shoot Kurt a side-glance when he doesn’t reply for a while. He looks calm enough but Blaine has known him long enough to see the kinks in the armor, to notice the pain. He wishes he could help but, right now, he figures what Kurt needs most is answers to his questions.

And it looks like he is steeling himself for the next one.

“Was there anything else she could, you know, _do_?” Kurt wants to know. “Did she have any powers?”

“Besides the morphing, you mean?” Burt shrugs. “Well, the telepathic talking, but that shouldn’t be news to you, either…” He takes a bite of his casserole, looking contemplative. “There is one thing… she was very, uh, gifted when it came to animals.”

“You mean she could morph fast?” Blaine blurts before he can stop himself.

“No, not that,” Burt says. “It was more… I don’t know, she didn’t speak to them or anything but she had an effect on them, almost like she could…”

“Control them,” Kurt whispers, and something in his tone seems off.

When Blaine looks at him, Kurt’s face has gone pale, and he doesn’t quite know what to make of it. He knows Kurt is hurting, physically as well as emotionally, but it is still lost on Blaine why Kurt would make such a big deal of his mom’s extra powers that don’t seem all that extraordinary compared to what they can do now.

After all, they’re now capable of turning into alligators and bears and _tigers_ -

That’s when Blaine puts two and two together.

He doesn’t say anything during the rest of dinner, figuring if Kurt won’t talk about it openly, he shouldn’t announce his deduction just like that, but he’s quick to turn down Burt and Carole’s offer to watch an old episode of Friends with them when they’re done eating in favor of following Kurt upstairs.

It seems surreal, anyway, watching TV when they’re holding aliens hostage upstairs in the bodies of their friends, and when his best friend is going through an emotional crisis.

As soon as they’re in Kurt’s room, Kurt sits down on his bed gingerly, not even looking up when Blaine asks him if he should close the door.

“Sure,” he mumbles.

Blaine closes it and comes to sit next to Kurt.

“Hey, Kurt…” he starts, not knowing how to go about it when it’s not all that obvious if Kurt wants to talk about it. “Tell me if you want me to shut up but – your mom’s powers... controlling animals? It’s not just your mom, is it?”

Kurt’s head snaps up, his mouth agape.

“How do you know?” he asks breathlessly. “Can… wait, can you do it as well?”

Blaine shakes his head gently.

“No, I just figured from the way you just guessed it and-” He hesitates for a moment. “When you told us about the tiger, you said you didn’t remember how you did it. Is that true?”

Kurt’s eyes become slightly unfocused and shiny as he takes his time to answer.

“I just remember feeling really calm, like there was no way the tiger would even notice me if I just came up behind it, and… it sounds crazy but- I don’t know how to explain it but I swear I could _feel_ the tiger. Like, not how I feel it when I morph into it but… I felt a connection and… now that I think about it, I think-” He looks away from Blaine all of a sudden, and Blaine almost wants to chase him, tilt up his chin and keep him from hiding, but he can’t quite bring himself to do it. Looking at his lap, Kurt continues, “Blaine, I think I _made_ the tiger calm down.”

“Kurt, that is great news!” Blaine gasps, grinning, but stops when Kurt keeps his gaze down, not responding to his happy outburst. He frowns. “Isn’t it? I mean, that’s a good power, we can use it to our advantage, and- hey.”

He’s been staring so intently at Kurt’s face that he notices instantly when a tear slips down his cheek.

“Hey, shhh, it’s okay,” Blaine mumbles, scooting closer and wrapping an arm around his best friend awkwardly. “Does it… does it hurt to know that your mom could do the same thing?”

Kurt shakes his head so quickly that Blaine gets a mouthful of his hair.

“No, no,” he says, “it’s not- I love that I have this connection to my mom, it’s something I’ve always wanted.” He pauses, wiping the tears away with the sleeve of his sweater. “I mean, I never in a million years would have dreamed that my mom was an alien but- it makes sense, I guess. It always felt like something was missing.”

Blaine nods against Kurt’s hair and strokes his thumb over the bit of Kurt’s arm he can reach.

“Why the tears then?” he asks quietly, careful not to overstep his boundaries.

Kurt sighs. “The powers are useless.”

“What?” Blaine exclaims, knitting his eyebrows together. “But you just told me that you made-”

“No, it’s because of me,” Kurt tries to explain, but Blaine only frowns harder.

“What about you?” he asks.

Blaine’s arm is shrugged off Kurt’s body as he gets up and starts pacing the floor in front of his bed slowly, keeping an arm at his side where his wound is – probably to be ready to steady himself in case it starts hurting. He doesn’t answer at first, and Blaine takes the moment to calm himself down and not get upset that Kurt untangled them – this is not about anything that might or might not happen between them, this is about _Kurt_ – but Kurt’s restless movements suggest that Kurt is doing the opposite of calming down.

“Blaine,” he suddenly says, stopping in his tracks, “at the compound… do you remember what I asked you after I- after I morphed back?”

Blaine thinks back to the morning – and did it really happen just twelve hours ago? – and to how incredibly concerned he was when Kurt broke down in pain after getting hurt by the bear. He remembers telling Kurt not to move and that Kurt insisted he was fine even though he looked as if he had seen a ghost and-

“You asked me if I was scared of you,” Blaine says slowly, keeping a close eye on Kurt’s reaction to see if that is where Kurt is going with this.

“You said you weren’t,” Kurt replies, biting his lip.

“I wasn’t.” Blaine tilts his head. “But you said you were scared of yourself.”

Kurt nods, sitting back down on the bed but keeping a notable distance between them. _Self-protection_ , Blaine thinks briefly.

“Just to think…” A shiver goes through Kurt’s body. “I killed it, Blaine. And yet… all this time… I could have prevented it from attacking us.”

Blaine shifts his body in Kurt’s direction to signal that he has his full attention.

“What do you mean?”

“I have these powers, Blaine, and I could have used them – I did the same with the tiger even when I didn’t know what I was doing – but instead of calming the bear down, I… I aggravated it and attacked it and… I killed it.” Kurt lies back on the bed, looking up at the ceiling in distress. “I feel like a monster.”

Blaine’s mouth opens and closes again without any words coming out.

“ _Kurt_ …” he finally says. “I told you this morning and I’ll tell you again, you did it to _protect_ us… you only did it because-”

“No, I didn’t!” Kurt says, sitting back up and suddenly looking furious – with himself, with Blaine…? – with wild eyes and flaring nostrils. “I know you think I’m compassionate or whatever but the truth is I’m anything but that! I felt the instinct to kill and I let it in willingly, Blaine! The bear didn’t stand a chance once I got going…” Kurt buries his face in his hands. “I could have easily just left it injured but… I wanted to kill it.”

“That doesn’t change anything,” Blaine tries but he’s barely gotten the words out when Kurt lets his hands fall down to his lap with an incredulous look on his face.

“That changes _everything_!” he exclaims. “Just accept the fact that I’m a bad person, okay?”

Now it’s Blaine who can’t help but get aggravated.

“But you’re not, Kurt!” He takes both of Kurt’s hands and leans in close to level with Kurt. “You’re a _good_ person. You saved us both from certain death this morning. You got your power from an animalistic instinct, so what? It seems pretty normal to me that you resort to that in a moment of panic.”

“You didn’t,” Kurt points out. “You- I don’t even know how you stayed so calm but you were so rational the whole time… I almost hurt you because I couldn’t focus!”

“Accidents happen.” Blaine shrugs. “And maybe the morphing affects us all differently… I feel a little helpless when I’m in my human form and morphing seems to sharpen my mind. You tend to overanalyze things usually, right? Maybe morphing makes you give up control… and maybe that’s good because otherwise you’d be limited in your actions.”

“How can I just accept that when I’ll still feel the guilt later?” Kurt argues, “And what if it isn’t the morphing? What if it’s really just something that I _am_? It might even be the fact that I’m not entirely human!”

“Is that what this is really about? The alien ancestry?” Blaine asks, looking at Kurt carefully. “Kurt, you’re human, okay? Maybe you’re just part human, so what? Your human side is prevalent, just look at you!”

He gestures up and down Kurt’s body before looking back up into Kurt’s eyes with what he hopes is an expression of trust and loyalty and adoration, before continuing, “You’re not just going to turn into an animal… okay, sometimes you do, I mean- uh… okay, starting over. You’re _not_ a monster and you’re not becoming one, either. You’re still Kurt and I’m still Blaine and no morphing or alien ancestors will change that, okay? You’re the same Kurt I’ve gotten to know this past year, you’re the same Kurt who’s been brave and strong throughout this mess of an apocalypse and you’re the same Kurt who’s my best friend and who’s funny and kind and- and _amazing_ , and just blows me away and-”

He breaks off and blushes when he realizes he’s rambling.

Kurt just blinks at him, mouth opening a little bit like he needs a few seconds to process the information.

“Blaine…” he says, seemingly lost for words.

“What I mean is,” Blaine tries again, ducking his head to hide a little because Kurt’s eyes on him are nothing short of _intense_. “I’m not going to look at you differently just because you’ve gone a bit rogue. You’re allowed to make mistakes and… you’re still amazing.”

He chances a look at Kurt and finds him gulping a few times.

“Well…” Kurt bites the corner of his bottom lip, the other end of his lips twitching up in a shy smile. “I do like the way you look at me.”

Blaine can’t very well look away now, can he? Kurt _likes_ the way he looks at him. So he keeps looking.

He notices a bit too late that he’s probably supposed to say something back, and great, now he’s sitting here like an idiot, just staring wordlessly.

Then again, Kurt doesn’t seem to mind. He’s inching closer, slowly, not tearing his eyes away, either, his fluttering eyelashes a sign of nervousness that Blaine’s not used to see on his face.

“I like the way you look at me lately, especially,” Kurt whispers.

Blaine doesn’t answer because they’re so close now that Kurt’s warm breath tickles his skin and he’s pretty sure his voice is going to give out anyway.

The second their lips touch, Blaine feels like he’s supposed to break out into song.

“Kurt! Blaine! We’re going to bed!” Burt yells up the stairs, making both of them freeze in their movements for the split of a second before they bolt apart. “Make sure Finn’s bedroom door is locked, okay? And lock your own!”

“Oh _god_ ,” Kurt mutters, looking as mortified as Blaine feels, and scrunches his face up as he shouts back, “Got it! Good night, dad!”

“Sleep well!”

“Yup, you too!” Kurt glances at Blaine’s face one more time before getting up from the bed. “I’m, uh… I’m gonna get ready for bed.” He turns around when he’s already halfway through the room, turning around, and looks up at the ceiling with a blush as he gestures up and down his body. “I meant- I’m gonna change.”

Blaine chuckles softly, not as bashful about his own red face because Kurt isn’t looking at him, anyway. As soon as he’s out the door, Blaine flops down onto the mattress and runs his hands through his hair.

Does what just happened count as a kiss? Did he kiss Kurt?

Their lips barely touched. It was… there was definitely soft pressure, a hint of what was to come… of what was _supposed_ to come. Damn Burt’s timing. Damn everyone’s timing.

He wonders if Kurt just kicked kissing off the agenda when he went to change, wonders if he just needed a quick break to get over the embarrassment, wonders if Kurt wants it as much as Blaine. He did look enthusiastic enough.

He’s still in the same position when Kurt comes back from the bathroom and he lifts his head, about to just screw the awkwardness and flat-out ask Kurt to kiss him, _please_ , when he notices that Kurt seems to be in distress.

Barely through the door, he pants out, “I heard noises from Finn’s room. I think- I think his controller’s time is up. Come help me, please?” As he disappears from the doorframe again, he shouts to alert his parents, “Dad, Carole! Finn is changing!”

Blaine’s surprised to find Carole and Burt already halfway up the stairs when he comes out of Kurt’s room but then again, the worry for their son is written all over their faces.

When they turn the corner to Finn’s room, Kurt is already at his brother’s side, keeping him upright even though his wound seems to make the move painful and Carole nudges him aside gently to do the job herself, Burt ungagging Finn and freeing him from the rope.

“What’s our plan for killing it?” Blaine asks. “Santana isn’t here to just plunge in…”

Kurt tenses next to him. “I… I’m not sure if… if-”

“Right.” Blaine gulps. “I’ll do it.”

Kurt grips his hand. “Are you sure?”

“Unless your dad wants to wake the whole neighborhood with a gun shot or we want to wait it out until it’s dead just by… drying out or whatever, I think it’s the better way.”

“I’m sorry,” Kurt says, biting his bottom lip with a miserable look on his face. “But after what we just talked about…”

Blaine runs his thumb over the back of Kurt’s hand gently.

“Don’t worry, okay?” He grins, even if it’s a little lopsided. “I’m guessing before this is all over, I’ll have to kill a few more of these beasts.”

Kurt barely manages a nod.

Finn finally slumps back in his chair after having twisted his body in obvious discomfort for almost five minutes and the Yeerk falls out of his ear with a splashing sound that makes Blaine cringe in anticipation of what he’s about to do.

He gets in the right mindset quickly, the memory of the bear almost feeling too familiar after today’s events, and it takes less than a minute until he’s fully morphed.

Carole shrieks at the sight of the bear, and almost lets go of Finn, but Burt grabs his arm tightly to keep him on the chair. With one foot, he nudges the slug closer to Blaine.

“Go for it,” he says darkly, glaring at the Yeerk.

Blaine raises his paw and smashes it down onto the alien, his claws going through the squishy, yet surprisingly firm texture easily. He feels the grey goo on his fur and knows that it’s going to be really, really disgusting in a minute but for as long as he stays in the morph, he lets himself revel in the satisfaction of having taken out another one of their enemies.

From the looks of it, Finn is already coming to, and blinks his eyes open slowly.

“Bear…” is the first thing he says when he lays eyes on Blaine. “There’s a bear in my room.”

“That’s Blaine, honey,” Carole says sweetly, hugging Finn tightly. “And you’re safe now.”

“So cool,” Finn breathes out, and then blacks out again.

Carole sighs and signals Burt to keep holding Finn.

“Looks like another one needs a good night’s sleep,” she says, rubbing her tired face. “I think he’ll need to sleep in your room, too, Kurt... I’ll bring the mattress over.”

_< Do you need help?>_ Blaine asks, morphing back quickly and taking a step towards Carole, but she’s already lifting up the mattress and sends him a grin.

“I can do it, no worries,” she says. “You better get cleaned up… and dressed.”

Oh. He _completely_ forgot about the morphing side effects.

Blaine is suddenly very glad that Kurt found out how to morph with clothes this morning because this would have been a whole different level of embarrassing if he wasn’t wearing his underwear. His jeans – those traitors, they stayed on in the zoo – and his shirt, however, are lying on the floor. He makes a quick grab for both items but when he leans back up, Kurt is by his side and takes them out of his hands, holding them between his thumb and forefinger.

“You’re getting slug all over these,” he says with a wrinkled nose and a smile. “Go get cleaned up. I’ll fetch your pajamas.”

Blaine hurries off to the bathroom, shuddering when he takes a look at himself in the mirror, grey slime all over his arms. He quickly washes it off, rids himself of his briefs and checks if they have remained untainted – thankfully, they have – and checks his other body parts to make sure he’s completely slime-free.

He’s barely finished when Kurt knocks on the bathroom door.

He pulls on his underwear in superhuman speed, almost knocking his head on the sink in the process.

“Come in,” he tells Kurt, looking down on himself and adjusting his briefs one last time at the last second, which leaves him with his hands awkwardly lingering on his crotch when Kurt pokes his head through the door, visibly gulping when his eyes shoot back up to Blaine’s face from where they have trailed down his body.

Blaine expects Kurt to just hand him the pajamas and then leave but Kurt lingers, grabbing onto the door hesitantly before stepping forward.

“Let me just- um,” he murmurs, turning to the door and closing it.

Before Blaine can ask him what’s going, Kurt’s back to facing him and lifts a hand to draw Blaine in by pulling on his neck.

And then Blaine’s being kissed, warm and tender and gentle and just so wonderfully _Kurt_ that he can’t stop himself from smiling into the kiss, a buzzy feeling taking over his body when Kurt’s hands make contact with his bare torso, making him whimper a little.

It’s over too soon because Kurt pulls back with a self-conscious chuckle and ducks his head when he says, “Sorry, I just- Finn is going to be in the room and it felt like, um… unfinished business, and I wanted it, well, finished.” He licks his lips, making Blaine wonder if he can taste Blaine there. “I’m gonna let you change now.”

He makes to turn around but Blaine blurts out, “Stay,” and Kurt blinks at him in response.

“I…” Blaine smiles at the floor; it feels easier admitting this to the floor than directly to Kurt. “I think I might want to do that again in a minute.”

“Yeah?”

Kurt’s voice is barely above a whisper, a little breathless, a lot hopeful.

“Absolutely.” Blaine dares to look up this time, and holds up the pajamas Kurt brought him. “I’ll just-”

“Right,” Kurt says quickly, turning around.

Blaine almost falls over in his haste to get his legs through the pajama pants but he likes to think he can’t be blamed – it’s just so enticing, the thought of changing while Kurt is in the same room, after just having been _kissed_ by Kurt – and he pulls the pants up the rest of the way with a giddy grin splitting his face in two, staring at the back of Kurt’s head like a man possessed.

Kurt starts giggling suddenly.

“God, everybody keeps interrupting, and now we’re in a _bathroom_ , this is just-”

“Perfect,” Blaine breathes out, pulling the pajama top over his head and immediately stepping close to Kurt, hugging him from behind and standing on his tip toes to press a cheek to Kurt’s left cheek, close to his ear.

Kurt inhales sharply, then turns his face so that Blaine’s lips slide down his jaw until their mouths meet, a little off-center but still so amazing that Blaine could sing.

And then they’re kissing again and it’s even better than before because this time, it lasts long enough for Blaine to reciprocate properly, taking Kurt’s face between his hands, kissing back with vigor, enjoying the way Kurt hums his consent when Blaine hesitantly parts his lips to deepen the kiss.

He’s a goner the second their tongues meet.

“Kurt,” he whispers in wonder when they break apart for a second to catch their breath, and Kurt is back on him in an instant.

It’s back and forth of utter bliss and it goes on and on until they hear soft voices in the corridor and with a last press of their lips, Kurt pulls away with a wide smile.

“Kurt?” Burt calls out.

“Bathroom!” Kurt says, opening the door blindly with his hand fumbling behind him in favor of keeping his eyes on Blaine, determined and satisfied. He sticks his head out. “I helped Blaine clean up.”

Blaine isn’t entirely sure if he’s just hearing things or if Burt actually did reply with, “I’m sure you did,” but it’s followed by an amused laugh from Carole and Blaine blushes brightly, glad that nobody’s looking at him.

“Bedtime now,” Carole reminds him. “You really do need your rest.”

Kurt steps out first and Blaine follows suit. He makes sure to keep his eyes on the back of Kurt’s head when they pass by Burt and Carole.

“There’s a few glasses of water on your nightstand,” Carole says. “Make sure Finn drinks some when he wakes up, okay?”

“Will do,” Kurt says, and Blaine nods quickly.

“Good night,” Burt says, patting both of them on the shoulder quickly and handing Kurt the key to Finn’s room.

Kurt and Blaine repeat the words back to Burt and Carole before disappearing into Kurt’s room.

Kurt shakes his head to himself with a bright smile as he makes his way to his bed, getting under the covers quickly. Blaine’s careful not to step on Finn’s mattress when he tiptoes to the other side of Kurt’s bed.

Blaine already felt content sharing a bed with Kurt yesterday night when their friendship was most definitely still less developed than today, but sharing a bed with Kurt after they just… well, made out is most definitely life-changing.

“Hi,” Blaine says with a teasing grin when they’re both settled, and Kurt laughs softly.

“Hey,” he replies. “I don’t mean to be a buzzkill but… I’m super tired.”

“’s fine. Me too.”

Blaine stretches and yawns, snuggling close enough to have their sides touching lightly but not too close to squish Kurt when he’s still in pain from the wound, and he hums happily when Kurt intertwines their fingers between them.

“Weird day,” Kurt mumbles, already sounding like he’s close to dozing off. God, he must be so exhausted, Blaine thinks fleetingly, and squeezes their hands.

“With a good ending?” Blaine asks.

“The best,” Kurt replies, and it doesn’t take long for either of them to fall asleep after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you were angry that you had to wait for this update longer than usual I am hoping that the ending somehow appeased you, hehe.
> 
> See you soon, folks! Thank you for reading and commenting and leaving kudos, you're the best! ♥


	6. Training with Complications

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, lovelies, as promised, you're getting a second update this week! Enjoy! ♥

Kurt wakes up to Blaine’s scrunched-up face, eyebrows furrowed and mumbling incoherent things in a half-sleepy, half-alert state. It’s adorable, and Kurt entertains himself with staring unabashedly for as long as he can – until he remembers that he is _so_ allowed to stare now. So he stares some more.

They kissed.

Kurt _kissed_ Blaine and Blaine kissed _back_. Kissing. _Blaine_.

He flops his head back onto his pillow, squeezes his eyes shut and kicks his feet a few times under the blanket to get the excitement out of his system without making too much noise. When he’s done, his head lulls to the other side – and his eyes land on Finn on his mattress on the floor, softly snoring and obviously still very out of it.

Right. Alien apocalypse. Happening… well, right about now.

He notices some rustling next to him and turns his head back to Blaine, who seems to be waking up for real now.

Okay, maybe he wasn’t _that_ discreet with the feet-kicking after all.

“Morning,” Kurt mumbles, wondering if kissing Blaine to a more awake state would be considered reading too much into the events of yesterday night.

Before he can even try to formulate a plan in his head to find out what Blaine would think about that, Blaine beats him to the punch, leaning over for a quick kiss and smiling against Kurt’s lips. It’s obvious he’s still sleepy, though, and it makes the whole thing even better because it’s clearly instinctual.

“Morning,” Blaine echoes as he pulls away, head landing on Kurt’s shoulder and not moving from the spot, dozing off a few times before blinking himself awake again.

It takes Blaine about five more minutes to actually wake up and by that time, Kurt has already checked his cellphone and communicated with Tina that they should meet up at his house later to train with their new morphs – at least they have a semi-safe meeting place now, what with everyone here in the know.

He rolls out of bed to get clothes from his closet but winces when his wound protests. He keeps forgetting that he’s injured – he figures it could be worse but it still limits his movements. It’s going to be hard to navigate around that while morphing. Plus, he’ll have to find something new to wear for the exercise, most preferably something that will still be a tight fit without putting too much pressure on his wound, because the bear ruined his unitard.

He has to close his eyes for a few seconds at the thought of the bear. _You’re allowed to make mistakes_ , Blaine’s voice echoes in his head. _You’re still amazing._

He really hopes that repeating the words like a mantra will be enough to carry him through the kills he’ll have to make in the future because he’ll be utterly useless to the cause and to their group if he can’t keep it together next time. It’s bad enough that he chickened out yesterday night and had to put Blaine through it.

While he goes through his closet, Blaine throws the blanket off his body and sits up in Kurt’s bed, rubbing his eyes with both hands.

“Do you need to borrow any clothes?” Kurt asks him, careful not to be too loud lest he wake Finn up from his well-deserved sleep. “Or are you still all set with what you packed for the trip?”

Blaine makes a face. “Not if I don’t want to run to the bathroom every time I morph today. My jeans are obviously not the best option… and, um, yeah, I could do without flashing my bare chest and legs at everyone throughout the day.”

Kurt keeps his long-running admiration for Blaine’s bare chest and legs a well-guarded secret for now so he just wordlessly throws yoga pants and a simple yet tight shirt in the general direction of the bed.

“Okay,” Blaine says, holding the items up to inspect them further, “I know the key to clothed morphing is tight clothing but… are you sure it has to be _this_ tight?”

Kurt grins to himself and hums in response.

“You could always ask Sam to bring a second pair of gold shorts,” he teases, preening at the way Blaine snorts at that. “Besides, I’ll be wearing yoga pants, too, you won’t be alone. My unitard has died an untimely death.”

“Too bad. I liked the unitard.”

God, is that what Blaine’s flirty voice sounds like?

Kurt resists doing a little victory dance, not because it’s the first time he’s hearing it but precisely because it’s _not_ the first time he’s hearing it. Blaine’s flirted with him before, has used this voice, if only subconsciously, on Kurt on numerous occasions. And now he’s doing it deliberately, while sitting on Kurt’s bed and about to wear Kurt’s clothes.

Kurt feels a pleasant shiver run down his spine. A six-figure lottery win would pale in comparison to this realization.

“Did you now?” he asks, just on the right side of the line between nonchalance and curiosity. “I’ll have to look into buying a new one then.”

“Don’t feel obliged. I… um,” Blaine mumbles, sounding embarrassed all of a sudden. “I like you in anything, really.”

When Kurt turns around, his own morph clothing in hand, Blaine is picking at the bedspread and not meeting his eyes.

Kurt’s heart hammers against his ribcage as he replies, “That feeling is mutual.”

God, how is he supposed to focus on morphing and fighting techniques today? The aliens are in for a win if he doesn’t get a grip.

But as Kurt shares a shy look with his not-quite-platonic-anymore friend, he has a feeling he isn’t the only one who’ll have a hard time concentrating.

-

Burt is already up and humming under his breath as he rummages through the kitchen, stacking – of course, Kurt notes with a roll of his eyes – a few slim jims on a plate to take to the table with him. He snatches the plate out of his dad’s hands as he walks in with Blaine.

“Kurt!” his dad protests at once. “I’ve had a rough couple of days, I deserve a breakfast for champions.”

Kurt fixes him with a stern glare. “Your _heart_ deserves a breakfast for healthy adults who make reasonable decisions,” he says.

Burt grumbles something incomprehensible and leans against the wall with a frown and crossed arms.

“Oh, grow up,” Kurt tells him, earning a raised eyebrow from his father, which he ignores deliberately. “Blaine, would you mind cutting some bananas, apples and oranges while I take care of the coffee?”

“Not at all.” Blaine grins as he saunters over to the fruit basket. “Breakfast for healthy adults who make reasonable decisions, coming right up.”

Kurt laughs but Burt squints his eyes at Blaine playfully.

“Wrong move, sonny,” he says. “I let you sleep in Kurt’s bed and this is how you thank me?”

Kurt almost drops the mugs he just pulled out of the cupboard and one look at Blaine tells him that if he doesn’t step in immediately, Burt is going to have his way and eat a dozen slim jims for breakfast.

“Dad!” he chides him. “Stop being difficult and go set the table or something.” When his dad actually gathers some bowls and cutlery and goes without protesting – though still grinning brightly – Kurt turns to Blaine. “I’m sorry. He’s just joking, I swear. He wouldn’t say stuff like that if he was uncomfortable or… mad or something. I promise.”

He knows Blaine’s own father isn’t exactly accepting of his sexuality, and he doesn’t want Blaine to think Burt is going to disapprove.

“No, I just-” Blaine shakes his head quickly. “I expected a speech or something.”

Kurt grins. “If you hurt my son, I’m going to break your legs?” he asks in a grumbly imitation of his dad’s voice.

Blaine shoots him an amused smile. “Something like that.”

“He likes you a lot, you know?” Kurt sets the mugs down on the kitchen counter and takes a step towards Blaine. Smiling and only a little bit embarrassed, he adds, “And he and Carole were prepared for this, I think. They’ve been teasing me about you for a while.”

Blaine’s eyebrows rise in surprise, his eyes sparkling with something Kurt can’t quite decipher.

A little bashfully, Blaine asks, “You know, that morning when Wes almost caught you morphing?”

Kurt nods but tilts his head, not sure where this is going.

“You were right, I was embarrassed,” Blaine confesses. “But not for the reason you thought. It was… well, the other guys were convinced I had a crush on you, like, big time.” He laughs softly. “I guess everyone figured it out way before me. Anyway, I was afraid they were going to let you in on the joke and that you’d think I was taking advantage of our friendship or something.”

Kurt blinks at Blaine, surprised. That… actually gives the issue a whole new spin.

“Blaine, I…” He shakes his head. “We’re idiots, aren’t we?”

“U-huh.” Blaine’s eyes have dropped to Kurt’s lips, and wow, that’s suddenly very interesting. “Can we-”

Kurt nods frantically, checks the kitchen doorway for any sign of his father before leaning in close for a kiss.

He meant to keep it short and chaste, he really did.

Two minutes later, that thought has vanished and Kurt couldn’t care less about short and chaste when he can have Blaine’s tongue in his mouth. He cares so little, in fact, that the nearing footsteps don’t even register in his brain.

“Dude, woah!”

“Finn!” Kurt shrieks, backing away from Blaine quickly.

“Hey, um…” Blaine coughs like he’s trying to come up with something clever. “You’re up...”

Finn turns his head from Blaine to Kurt and back.

“Weird morning,” he says. “First I wake up in your room and then… this.” Gesturing between the two of them, he asks, “So… since when are you two…?”

“Yesterday,” they both say in unison, not waiting for Finn to finish the sentence.

“Cool.” Finn shrugs before squinting his eyes at Kurt. “Wait… but I slept in your room. Why would you invite me to a sleepover with your boyfriend?”

Kurt sputters for a second, trying to think of a way to protest the use of the word “boyfriend” without making it look like he doesn’t _want_ Blaine to be just that, before the other part of Finn’s question registers in his brain.

He scrunches up his nose. “That’s a euphemism I wouldn’t have used,” he says.

“What, boyfriend?”

Ugh, Kurt could kill him.

“No,” he says pointedly, giving Finn a meaningful look that he hopes conveys the message, _stop using the b-word_. “Inviting you to a sleepover. I mean… we had no other choice, what with your room being occupied.”

“Wait, what?” Finn’s eyes widen. “Oh my god, I dreamed there was a bear in my room. Is that true then?”

Kurt laughs. “That was Blaine, Finn.”

Finn stares at Blaine, long and intensely, like he’s trying to picture him as a bear.

“Oh,” he finally says, starting to chuckle. “That’s a gay joke, right?”

“ _What_?” Kurt shoots back, completely confused, at the same time as Blaine starts, “Kurt, I think that-”

Ignoring Blaine, Kurt presses on, “It’s not a joke, Blaine was mor- hrmpf!”

He doesn’t get to finish his sentence because Blaine steps behind him and slaps a hand over his mouth.

“He’s just kidding!” Blaine says lightly, smiling widely at Finn. “Burt discovered some mold in your room yesterday and, um… you were already sleeping so we just carried you over to Kurt’s room.”

He laughs, and it sounds entirely fake to Kurt’s ears, which makes sense since the whole story is fake, too. Why is Blaine lying to his brother?

“Mold?” Finn asks, looking disgusted. “In my room? Great.”

“Yeah.” Blaine makes a show of widening his eyes and shrugging. “If I were you, I wouldn’t go in there. It stinks horribly.”

Finn nods slowly while pulling out a box of cornflakes from the cupboard.

“Gotcha,” he says. “Thanks, Blaine!”

“Anytime,” Blaine mutters, leaving the kitchen and pulling Kurt along with him, all the way to the living room, before he releases him from his grip.

“What the hell was _that_?” Kurt cries out, and Blaine looks around frantically, signaling for him to shush. Lowering his voice, Kurt repeats, “What the hell was that, Blaine?”

Blaine sighs. “I don’t think Finn remembers.”

“What?”

“I think he doesn’t remember anything.” Blaine looks back to the kitchen again. “No aliens, no controlling, no morphing… he forgot all of it.”

“That’s absurd!” Kurt hisses. “Carole remembered it all, she knew what her controller was thinking. Why would it be different for Finn?”

Blaine shrugs helplessly.

“How would I know? All I see is a very, _very_ clueless Finn.”

Kurt stares at Blaine incredulously. It can’t be, can it? He turns to the general direction of the kitchen to hear Finn humming the tune to his favorite TV show. Dejectedly, he lets out a deep sigh and turns back to Blaine.

“Damn, you’re right,” he relents. “If he knew anything of worth, he would have come out with it immediately…” His head snaps up, heart pounding faster. “Do you think he’s been taken again?”

“Oh god.” Blaine’s eyes widen. “I hope not. I mean, we wouldn’t even be able to know for sure unless he did something suspicious…”

For the first time since all of this started, the realization that everyone around him could be taken over night and he wouldn’t even _notice_ hits home. They could be lied to at any given second and opportunities for disaster are around every corner – they already made a major mistake in trusting Wes.

He’s about to suggest that they spy on Finn subtly throughout the day, just to make sure he isn’t being used for evil again, when Burt comes storming into the living room, looking flushed and upset.

“Kurt, Blaine, we have a problem!” he announces. “I tried to ask Carole how she was doing because she had trouble falling asleep yesterday, you know, with all the alien talk and everything, but… she didn’t seem to recall-”

“Burt!” Carole shouts from down the hall. “What exactly were you planning on doing with all that rope? You know I don’t like it when you store garage stuff in our bedroom!”

“She’s lost her memory, too,” Kurt whispers, and Burt mouths, “too?” in confusion, flinching when Carole calls out his name again.

“I’m sorry!” Burt yells back. “I was too tired to put it back yesterday!”

He leaves it at that, and Carole doesn’t question it further, which Kurt thinks is a miracle because his dad’s body language just screams liar. But then again, she can’t see him.

“Did she do anything out of the ordinary?” Kurt asks immediately. “Does she seem like she’s being controlled again?”

Burt shakes his head quickly. “No, no, I would have noticed.” He scratches his head. “We didn’t do anything… I mean… uh.” His eyes flit around. “Well, before, we- no, but we went straight to sleep after... uh, well, you know.”

Kurt wrinkles his nose once he gets what his father is trying to say.

“Oh my god, dad,” he groans, mortified, “I didn’t need to know _that_!”

His dad mumbles something completely unintelligible. Kurt doesn’t ask. Instead, he shares a look with Blaine, whose mouth won’t stop twitching in a mixture of ill-concealed amusement and polite disinterest.

“Um,” Blaine clears his throat awkwardly when he regains control of his face, “you didn’t do anything else at all?”

Oh god, no, Kurt doesn’t want any details.

“Can we just drop the subject?” he asks quickly. “You… um, slept, and when you woke up, poof, memory gone. We’ll never know. We’ll survive without it.”

“Sleeping,” Burt says suddenly, looking up in thought, every trace of embarrassment gone. “It must be the sleep.”

“What?” Kurt asks, confused for a second, but when it sinks in, his head snaps up to meet his dad’s eyes. “Oh! _Sleeping_! It makes them forget all about the aliens!”

Blaine nods along with his words, like he’s figuring it out at the same time.

“It makes sense,” he says, “Finn fell right asleep but Carole didn’t go to bed until much later.”

Kurt turns to the stairs immediately. “We need to keep an eye on Wes then, he’s our only left source-”

“Kurt, wait,” his dad says, and Blaine manages to reach out with his hand to keep Kurt from stalking away. “What do we do about Finn and Carole?”

“ _Duh_ ,” Kurt says, raising his eyebrows. “We’re telling them.”

He’s instantly aware of how his dad’s gaze shifts into something uncomfortable.

“Dad,” Kurt says with conviction. “We need to tell them.”

“Kurt, they wouldn’t have to know,” his dad says, sighing. “They can go on without this whole… thing weighing them down.”

Kurt understands the sentiment, of course. Part of him is relieved that he won’t have to worry about Finn and Carole getting hurt because they know too much. They can’t really defend themselves.

Then again, he feels pent-up anger pulling at him at the thought of Burt concealing everything that’s happening to spare his wife and step-son’s feelings. It’s the same thing he did to Kurt, not telling him about his mother for sixteen years, essentially _lying_ to Kurt about her identity.

It just doesn’t seem right.

Besides, it would be nice not having to move around in secrecy in this house. After all, his friends are scheduled to come by for a morph training in half an hour and their safety net has just vanished.

They can’t just invent an excuse to make Finn and Carole leave the house for a while – it might be dangerous for them to wander off, especially when they still have a hostage upstairs that might attract unwanted house guests.

But his dad’s eyes are nothing short of _pleading_ at this point, and Kurt feels his resolve crumble.

“Fine,” he mumbles, still not fully on board but not finding it in him to have an argument about this when they have more pressing matters to tend to. “Not a word to Finn and Carole. But you get to do the fun part of figuring out what to tell them when my friends come over.”

“We’re trying to find out where Brittany has disappeared to,” Blaine prompts at once, apparently already having carved out a believable plan while Kurt and Burt came to an understanding. “It makes sense with what happened, and it’ll explain why Lord Tubbington is there as well.”

“And while you have your training session, I’ll keep Finn and Carole distracted,” Burt says, almost desperately trying to convince Kurt. The guilt is obvious on his face; he doesn’t want to upset Kurt any further. “I have to do some long overdue stock-taking in the garage, anyway. That might explain the rope in the bedroom, too.”

Kurt nods to this, signaling his agreement quickly because he can hear Finn coming their direction. He makes up a quick excuse of having to do some touch-ups on his hair and asks Blaine to help him with that.

They’re halfway up the stairs when he hears Finn complain, “Buuuurt, but why? I don’t want to take stock… can’t Kurt do it? Come on, he’s not really busy, is he? He’s just gonna make out with his boyfriend!”

Kurt gulps as he suddenly realizes he’s alone with Blaine again, and Blaine’s a little fidgety beside him so Kurt figures he isn’t the only one who itches to have a conversation about... well, _them_ – and then maybe make out a little, whom are they kidding – but there’s no time. It’s not going to be long until the others arrive, and they need to rearrange the bedrooms first.

Come what may, Wes will have to sleep in Kurt’s room alongside them now – and if he doesn’t have to recharge by the time they have to go to sleep, they will have to take turns keeping watch. They will also have to tell Finn they were just joking about the mold.

“This would be so much damn easier if dad wasn’t trying to protect everyone from knowing too much,” Kurt mutters with a roll of his eyes as they move Wes to his room. “But he’s probably gotten super used to pretending aliens don’t exist, what with all the practice he had with me.”

“Hey now,” Blaine soothes gently, avoiding Wes’ annoyed glares by keeping his eyes on Kurt, “You’re overreacting… I wouldn’t want Wes to be dragged into this either. I’m… I’m actually glad he won’t remember.”

“I know, I know.” Kurt sighs. “I’m not really angry at him, it’s just… I don’t know, I just wish he would have told me sooner so I could have had some time to grapple with the fact that my mother was an alien.”

Blaine gives him a sympathetic smile. “Well, I’m sure-”

_< We’re here,>_ Santana’s voice comes through, interrupting Blaine. _< Didn’t want to ring the bell in case we’re compromised or whatever but please let us in quickly, I can’t wait to learn how to kick ass properly – and pronto.>_

“I’ll get it!” Kurt stands up straight and winces when a flash of pain shoots through his body. “Ouch, dammit.”

“Let me…?” Blaine asks, already opening the bedroom door.

“No, you take the first shift with Wes,” Kurt says, putting on a brave face despite the pain. “I want to make sure dad is keeping Finn and Carole busy. It’ll look weird if you do it.”

“Okay.” Blaine bites his lip. “I just don’t like seeing you hurt… remember to slow down a little, okay?”

Kurt’s heartbeat picks up in a quick rhythm and he ducks his head with a smile as he nods.

“I’ll try my best,” he says softly.

Blaine leans in to kiss him, just a quick brush of his lips before he’s leaning back again, motioning towards the door with his head.

“If we keep them waiting, Santana will probably kick the door in,” he says a little wistfully.

“Yeah, I better go,” Kurt breathes out and starts limping down the stairs in half-speed, making it obvious to Blaine that he’s really trying not to further hurt himself.

He hears Blaine’s fond chuckle at his efforts. “There you go, Speedy Gonzales.”

Kurt rolls his eyes but his lips still tingle from the barely-there kiss and his lips won’t stop twitching up in a dumb smile.

When he opens the front door – after having found the rest of the house empty, with Burt and Carole and Finn apparently already having disappeared to the garage – he’s still grinning, but he stops as soon as he takes in the sight before him and raises a questioning eyebrow instead.

Brittany and Santana are both in feline forms, meowing in lieu of a greeting (and by their group’s recent standards, that’s not even the strangest sight to behold) – but Sam and Tina are carrying arms full of stuffed animals, both of them flashing Kurt enthusiastic smiles.

He barely even has time to ask what the accessories are for before they’re all rushing through the door.

“Guys,” he hisses, remembering what’s at stake. “We have to be a little careful today. Dad’s going to try to keep Carole and Finn away from our training but-”

_< Why?>_ Brittany asks. _< Are they scared we’ll hurt them?>_

“No but they will be when they see us in animal form,” Kurt says, rolling his eyes. “Turns out a good night’s sleep makes you forget all about the being-controlled-by-an-evil-slug-monster shenanigans.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Tina groans from behind a stack of plush bears, to which Kurt just grimaces.

_< Wait,>_ Santana drawls, her cat eyes trained on Kurt. _< You mean to tell me that our number one sources for finding out where that damn cave is just woke up near-amnesic?>_

Kurt sighs. “Yup.”

She provides him with a sarcastic, _< That’s just great,>_ and prowls in the direction of the living room. _< Oh, and by the way, Kurt… congrats.>_

“For what?” he asks dumbly.

_< Getting the moves on with Mr. Gel Helmet, obviously.>_

Kurt blinks after her. “How-“ he tries. “I mean, what-”

_< Psychic Mexican third eye,>_ she says. Kurt can _hear_ her grin. _< Don’t think I didn’t see that idiotic smile on your face when you opened the door.>_

He blushes, thankfully with his back to his other friends, who he hopes have not heard a word of what Santana just said, but nobody follows up the conversation with teasing jokes, so he assumes he’s in luck.

He and Blaine haven’t even talked about telling their friends what happened. God, they haven’t even had time during this action-ridden weekend to really talk about the whole thing themselves, just the two of them.

He yearns for some alone time.

“I hate this freaking apocalypse,” he mumbles to himself as he leads his friends through the house to the backyard – which, thankfully, is closed-off enough to shield them from any neighbors’ curious eyes and far enough from the garage for Carole and Finn to hear any suspicious noises.

Santana doesn’t say anything else about Blaine, and Kurt doesn’t particularly feel the need to initiate a discussion about his love life himself (god, does he have a _love_ _life_ now???), so instead he fills everyone in on what else went down last night and this morning, including the shifts they have to cover to keep an eye on Wes upstairs.

“How boring… can’t we just torture him?” Santana deadpans, back to her human form, lying down on the grass next to Brittany.

 “No, Wes is in there,” he says determinedly. “We’d be hurting Wes, not his controller. We can’t do that.”

“Well, how about we just practice like we said we would then?” Tina asks.

“Yeah, right,” Santana scoffs, “with Hudson Senior and Junior around to call animal control the second they see half a zoo prancing around in their backyard.”

“My dad’s keeping them occupied.” Kurt sighs. “But to be honest, I personally think we _should_ involve them. They’re not safe, anyway; the Yeerks know their faces. It might be better for them to learn how to stand a chance in the inevitable fight. But my dad won’t agree to that, so it’s not up for discussion.”

“But we’re still learning how to fight?” Sam asks with a hopeful smile.

“Yes, we’re still going to train,” Kurt confirms with a smile of his own. “Now, please tell me why you brought five dozen stuffed animals. I hope you’re not suggesting we morph into those because I doubt looking cuddly is going to be useful.”

Tina’s face lights up as she explains that she got an idea for their training the night before when she almost died of shock as her ear brushed one of her stuffed animals at night and she thought it was a Yeerk – she wants to throw them at everyone during training and make them react fast and kill the stuffed-animal Yeerks in any way possible in their respective morphs.

Kurt is sceptic at first – Yeerks can’t even jump, after all, and it seems a bit unnecessary – but he supposes it’s good to be prepared for anything, even flying attacks.

And it the training does pay off. After a few rounds of morph attacks that still look a bit clumsy and miss their fake target more often than not, he’s slowly getting the hang of using his tiger body to his best advantage. The wound is still slowing him down significantly but that just makes the training more urgent. If he can’t be fast, he at least needs to be _precise_ in his attacks.

Santana is responsible for squashing half of Tina’s stuffed animals under her rhino feet, and Brittany demonstrates how deadly lazy-looking cats can be when they put their mind to it. Sam, on the other hand, surprises them all by not morphing at all, instead pulling two Swiss Army knives out of his gold shorts (Kurt doesn’t even want to guess where on earth he found room to tuck the knives into) and literally shredding his target – a flying stuffed bunny – to tiny pieces, making Tina cry out, “Noooo, Mr. Funky!”

Brittany giggles at the white plush falling to the ground. _< Now you can call him Mr. Chunky,> _she quips, playing with the remains like they’re snow.

“That was awesome,” Sam breathes out, eyes lighting up. “Can I try another one?”

Tina flops herself down on her remaining pile of stuffed animals with her arms thrown out protectively.

“I brought them for practice, not to be featured in a slasher movie! That image will haunt me forever!”

“Come on, you said they were Yeerks!” Sam complains. “You’re no fun.”

“ _Fun_?” Tina screeches. “I-”

They argue for a while until Sam finally convinces Tina – with a little help from Blaine who’s watching them in fascination from where he’s sitting on Kurt’s windowsill in his dog morph – that they should at least all practice human fighting with knives as well.

After the knife training, Blaine and Sam trade places, Sam taking over the shift with Wes. The group resumes going over animal fighting, actually competing against one another a few times. Thankfully, Blaine chooses his dog morph when he’s paired with Kurt for an exercise – Kurt is almost sure Blaine isn’t using his bear on purpose because he sends him a little, _< Okay?>_ via thought-speak when Kurt just watches him in surprise for a few seconds. They have a pretty epic simulated dog fight during which Kurt manages not to spiral out of control.

The success of it and Blaine’s words from last night in mind, Kurt manages to feel a little more at ease with himself and trusts himself enough to fight Santana’s rhino as a tiger. They never actually hit each other, just go over the possible strikes in slow-motion. Whenever it comes to actually try hitting something, they use Tina’s animals.

Tina announces that they still haven’t gone over the human fighting techniques Santana and Blaine were supposed to show them on their weekend trip. Santana goes first, teaching everyone some moves that she learned in the Wen-Do classes she took a few years prior.

She starts with some basic kicks that will make the opponent fall to the ground – they don’t need much more than that, just enough to gain the upper hand and capture the controller. Once the alien emerges, it’ll be easy to kill them with knives or morphs or just by keeping them locked up and letting them dry out.

Kurt makes a mental note to ask his dad for more rope later because they’ll need to somehow keep the human vessels in place if they don’t manage to kick them unconscious.

As the hour drags on, he feels himself getting a little bored as Santana goes more into detail. It’s not like this is going to be their primary fighting technique – he’d rather be practicing his morphing. He doesn’t say it out loud but he does whisper it to Blaine.

“Come on, it’s a precaution,” Blaine whispers amusedly. “What if you’re in a situation where you can’t morph?”

“Yeah, right, what kind of scenario would that be?” Kurt asks, giving him a pointed look.

“You really need to read or watch more sci-fi, Kurt,” Blaine chastises him playfully. “There’s _always_ a scenario in which the hero or heroine loses their primary weapon or their abilities.”

“Oi, lovebirds!” Santana calls out to them, hands on her hips. “Stop flirting and pay attention! Kurt, maybe you should take the next shift with asshole alien upstairs since you can’t really kick with your wound, anyway. Trouty Mouth, get down here!”

From his window upstairs, he has a great view over the fight training. He keeps Wes in his peripheral vision but his eyes are mostly focused on Blaine – Blaine flexing his arms before going in for a punch, Blaine bending over to show Tina how to position her foot correctly, Blaine laughing at something Sam is telling him, the sweat on his face glistening in the sunlight.

Not to mention he’s wearing Kurt’s tight yoga pants.

It’s even worse once they get to the boxing part of the afternoon and Blaine starts _teaching_ everyone. There’s just something about the quiet self-confidence he’s suddenly oozing, and Kurt finds himself so mesmerized he doesn’t even notice that he’s being addressed until everyone’s staring up at him.

“… what?” he asks, tearing his eyes away from Blaine, who’s suddenly looking a little flustered and squirmy.

“I said I needed a break,” Tina says, rolling her eyes with a smile. “Care to switch places?”

Kurt blushes, nods, and then proceeds to ignore Tina’s not-at-all-subtle secretive wink as he leaves his bedroom.

At least it’s nice to know his friends will approve once he gathers enough courage to actually flat-out ask Blaine to be his boyfriend and make it official.

The group waits for him to join them before partnering up again for some exercise and he isn’t surprised that Blaine pairs himself with Kurt – he still needs to learn the basics that Blaine just taught the others.

Kurt gets into position immediately, dropping his hips like Blaine explained, trying to feel the way it’s supposed to make him more grounded.

“That’s not-” Blaine bites his lip into a smile. “You’re too tense.”

Kurt shifts his hips, looking down. “This better?”

“A little.” He reaches his hands out but seems to think better of it suddenly. “Uh, may I?”

Kurt nods but feels his mouth go dry. No wonder he’s tense.

Blaine puts his hands on Kurt’s hips and pushes them, positioning them just slightly down and backwards until Kurt’s knees bend a little.

“The key is _relaxing_ your hips instead of just squatting. It’s all about getting into a position in which your defense and offense are equally as effective. If you’re tense, it’ll be the exact opposite of that. Your muscles lock, you’re easy to throw off balance and you won’t be able to move as fast.”

“Kind of like dancing.”

“ _Exactly_ like dancing,” Blaine says and flashes him a broad smile when Kurt’s position improves immediately.

They go over it a few times, Blaine telling Kurt to draw up and release his hips a few times, and in the end, he feels like he kind of knows what he’s doing.

The whole illusion is shattered once they get to the actual punching. If he could already see the flexing muscles from his window upstairs, Kurt is swallowing around a suddenly very big lump in his throat when they do the same thing right in front of his eyes as Blaine shows him to throw a basic punch.

“Kurt?” Blaine looks at him worriedly. “You’re tensing up again.”

“Uh, sorry,” Kurt says dumbly. “Got distracted.”

Blaine’s gaze on him softens, a mischievous smile taking place of the frown, and he straightens up a bit as he takes both of Kurt’s hands in his and starts to slowly knead the tension out of Kurt’s balled-up fists.

“Don’t tuck the thumb under the other fingers,” he murmurs, the only sign of awareness of the effect he’s having on Kurt the blush sitting high on his cheeks. “Too easy to injure it by crushing it in your hand when you punch.”

“Is that why they call it a sucker punch?” Kurt jokes lamely.

Blaine grins. “Nope, that would be a punch to… here.” He touches the part of Kurt’s belly right underneath the ribs with soft fingers that seem to burn through the thin fabric of Kurt’s shirt. “Because it knocks the air out of you.”

“Smartass,” Kurt retorts, keeping his voice as steady as he can manage.

_God, this is training for a battle, not flirting 101. Get a grip, Kurt._

Blaine sticks his tongue out and resumes inspecting Kurt’s hand posture.

“When you hit, keep your knuckles straight on the target,” he explains. He opens his palm against Kurt’s fist and shows him how to position it right. “No weird angles, you don’t want to deal more damage to yourself than to others.”

Then he takes a step backwards, standing straight in front of Kurt.

“Okay, now hit me,” he says.

“What?” Kurt takes a step backwards. “Aren’t you supposed to teach me the whole move first…?”

“I want to see how you move on instinct. It’s not like we have time to make a professional boxer out of you before we need to take down some aliens. I’ll just see what we’re working with and give you a few pointers. You’re already halfway there with the posture, anyway.”

Kurt hesitates. “What if I hurt you?” he asks. “I don’t-”

“You’re not exactly lethal,” Blaine says with a smile. “Don’t overthink it, just do it.” Blaine gestures to his stomach. “Hit me hard. I can take it.”

“Blaine, I-”

“Kurt, come on, I’m serious.”

“Okay, um…”

Kurt feels silly getting into position; he probably looks like a toddler on a bike for the first time. He draws his hand back to put more force into the punch and then lets it lunge forward, right into Blaine’s tightened – and whoa, okay, _abs_ – stomach.

Aside from a little gasp, Blaine doesn’t seem too fazed, and Kurt lets out a sigh of relief and flexes his fingers to see if they’re okay.

“Felt good, didn’t it?” Blaine says, grinning. “The way it released the restless energy?”

Kurt especially liked the part where he could feel Blaine’s muscles work under his fingers but he refrains from pointing that out because from out of the corner of his eye, he can already see Santana smirking at them, and she’s probably _this_ close to wolf-whistling the hell out of their little training session.

Blaine goes over a few things with him, like the way his arm should be held in the initial position, and how he should always keep one or both arms close to his face for protection. He eventually goes back to teaching the whole group a new move and pairs them up differently – Kurt tries not to be too disappointed to be working with Sam, he knows Blaine just wants them to practice with different targets – and they’re about fifteen minutes into the new exercise when they’re suddenly interrupted by a cry of help from inside the house.

Kurt’s head spins around fast; he recognizes his step-mom’s voice. “Carole?”

She comes into view at the door to the garden, looking horrified.

“Kurt!” she cries out. “Your dad… he’s…”

The words feel like an ice bucket to Kurt’s heart.

His face is pale as he rushes toward the house, not even paying attention to his wound or to anyone else’s comments, faintly aware of how they all follow him quickly.

“Carole, what happened?!” he demands to know as he tugs her in the direction of the garage.

“There w-was a customer,” she stutters out. “Burt… he- he t-talked to him and then all of a sudden- and Finn-”

Kurt’s heart beats impossibly fast in his chest when he opens the door to the garage. His hands curl into fists the way Blaine just showed him as he anticipates the worst with an icy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

At first it’s hard to determine what’s going on in because the first thing he notices with a relieved jolt of his heart is that his dad’s alive.

The second thing he notices is that Finn has put a stranglehold on his dad.

“Let him go!” he screeches and lunges forward but Carole holds him back, accidentally touching his wound and making Kurt howl in pain.

Finn’s eyes widen at Kurt’s words, and he actually loosens the grip on Burt a little in shock.

“Kurt, he – oh, honey, I’m sorry – Finn didn’t have a choice!” Carole says, her voice as distressed as Kurt’s ever heard it. “Burt suddenly started hitting the poor guy! He must have lost his mind!”

“What guy?” Kurt snarls, whipping his head around.

“He got away,” Burt chokes out, taking advantage of the fact Finn isn’t holding on as tight anymore. “Finn, let me go, please.”

“How do I know you’re not going to start attacking everyone?” Finn eyes Burt suspiciously. “What’s going on here?”

“Dad, what happened?” Kurt asks at the same time. “God, I thought you were-” He can’t bring himself to say it. “Was that customer a controller?”

Burt closes his eyes with a sigh and nods.

“What’s a controller?” Carole asks. “What on earth is going on?”

Kurt can see it in his father’s eyes, sees the same expression he saw on that face yesterday – the fear of having to involve people he wanted to spare.

“Dad, I think there’s no way around it,” he says. “You have to tell them.”

“Tell us what?” Carole and Finn ask simultaneously.

Brittany jumps onto the hood of the car next to Finn and Burt, body bopping up and down a little in a way that is completely uncharacteristic of a cat’s.

_< Ooooh, please let me tell it!>_ she says excitedly, like she’s never been more in the mood for story time. _< Please, please, please!>_

Carole’s body sways next to Kurt as she almost faints.

-

It’s almost a copy of yesterday’s events once they all go up to Kurt’s room – to include Tina, who had anxiously waited for their return, not daring to leave Wes alone – and start spilling the beans, except that Finn and Carole have a much harder time believing everything they tell them now because they have no memory of their pre-experience that could have prepared them for the truth.

Kurt demands to be filled in concerning what went down in the garage and Burt starts explaining that a costumer claimed to have made an appointment with him, so Burt let him in and in the chit-chat that followed, the guy started talking about the Sharing and that he would love to see Burt and his family there next week. When Burt declined the offer, the guy hissed that he’d better accept the invitation if he wanted his family to live. Since Carole and Finn hadn’t caught that last part, it looked to them as if Burt lost it and started attacking the guy out of nowhere. Because Finn was quick to get a hold of Burt, the Yeerk actually managed to escape.

Which means they don’t have much time until he’ll be back to deliver on his threat. Possibly with friends.

“We’ve waited too long,” Kurt says once Burt is finished. “We need to make a move.”

“But you don’t even know where to strike,” Finn says with wide eyes. He’s taking all of this in remarkably fast, Kurt thinks, and he leans his head against Finn’s shoulder in silent support.

“No, Kurt’s right,” Blaine says, nodding slowly. “If they’re openly threatening people into coming to the Sharing, that means they’ve moved on to mass recruiting. If we wait much longer, they’ll gain the upper hand in no time. We just hurt our own cause if we keep delaying the inevitable.”

“I hate to say it but Finn has a point, though,” Santana says. “We have _no_ idea where we’d even start.”

Kurt lets out a frustrated noise and gets up to grab Tina’s notebook from the windowsill.

“ _This_ is what we have for a start,” he says. “We know-”

“That’s a book with pages that we keep burning after we fill them,” Santana snarls. “I’m not particularly eager to die a heroic death just because we took a few repetitive notes on how to stop the apocalypse.”

“But we know how to get them out of their hosts’ bodies and we know how to kill them,” Kurt argues. “We _trained_. And we know that the cave is under the school. That’s a start. The school isn’t enormous, we’ll find it somewhere.”

“The school is also crawling of Yeerks,” Tina points out, frowning. “Barging in there seems like a suicide mission.”

“But what if we don’t go in there to fight?” Sam pipes up. “What if we just go on a recon mission to see if we can find the cave and get a good overview of how many Yeerks we’re going to have to fight before we really prepare for battle?”

_< And we could try to find the other Andalite guardian,>_ Brittany provides from her spot on Kurt’s vanity.

Kurt looks up at her in thought. He almost forgot about that. The Andalite might be someone who has more intel, who will be able to help them. Someone who Kurt might be able to connect to, to learn from.

Tina perks up. “It’s also someone at school,” she says, apparently recalling what she wrote down yesterday. Or at least that’s what the Yeerks think.”

“So, recon mission it is?” Blaine asks, and it seems that the majority of them agrees so they start formulating a plan that involves some of their more stealthy morphs.

They’ll spy on several teachers that might either be the possible Yeerk leader or the Andalite. To their dismay, most of them make the list twice, including Coach Sylvester, Mr. Schue, Principal Figgins and Miss Pillsbury. Coach Beiste is the only one who only makes one list – Visser Two, the Yeerk leader. After all, they heard the familiar voice giving orders on the video Kurt was able to procure from Jacob’s camera. It’s safe to assume it was someone of high rank, at least.

They discuss the possibility of Visser Two being a student as well, though it does seem more plausible that they would disguise themselves as a teacher – a teacher giving a student orders would seem more normal to an unassuming bystander than the other way round. On the other hand, it could be a diversion tactic. Tina finally has enough of the recurring discussion and writes down the names of all the students that they know have been controlled at some point. Kurt thinks he sees her hand shake a little bit when she gets to Mike’s name.

Brittany crawls into Tina’s lap and seems to say something to her, apparently having noticed it too, because Tina smiles her way through a few tears slipping out and says, “Yeah, I know. Thanks, Brittany.”

As the list of names grows, they make plans to split up to single out and spy on some of their choices. When they start assigning people to their respective tasks, Kurt is shocked – but then again, not surprised – to find Burt and Finn among the volunteers.

“No way!” he says. “Neither of you can morph, not to mention you didn’t train like we did.”

“Kurt, I’ve known about these monsters way longer than you,” his dad grumbles. “I know what I’m doing.”

“You’re also wanted by the Yeerks for knowing my mother,” Kurt says warningly. “And I repeat, _you can’t morph_. We’re going for stealthy here, dad. You going in there snooping around just doesn’t fit the description. Besides, we need someone to keep an eye on Wes if his controller doesn’t let go by tomorrow morning.”

Burt looks like he wants to argue but he knows just as well as any of them that he has no reasonable grounds to support his opinion.

“What about Finn, though?” Santana wonders. “He was one of them, he could maybe convince them to lead them to the right-”

“I’ll do it,” Finn offers immediately.

“Don’t,” Kurt begs. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”

“I can do it, I know I can,” his brother insists. “I want to help.”

Kurt sighs. “Fine. But if anyone gets suspicious, you’re out of there immediately.”

“Deal.”

“I’m going after Coach Beiste,” Blaine declares, and Kurt sinks deeper into his chair.

Why are all the people he cares about so insistent on getting themselves into danger?

“I was going to-” Kurt starts but Blaine shakes his head immediately.

“You should be going after the Andalite,” he says pointedly, and goddammit, he’s right.

Kurt might be the one to recognize the Andalite the easiest, even if he has no idea what to look for exactly. After all, Starchild seemed to know they were connected somehow – he had looked so surprised yet overjoyed. It really does make sense for Kurt to seek out the Andalite guardian.

“Right,” he says and turns to Tina. “Who’s our best guess in that department?”

“I don’t know,” she says, scanning the list. “Miss Pillsbury… because of the guidance counseling, you know?”

“A bit obvious, isn’t it?” Santana asks, her eyebrows rising. “Mr. Schue is more likely.” When everybody just looks at her silently, she shrugs. “Think about it. He’s totally connected and knows everyone and he doesn’t have a lot of enemies because he’s never a dick to anyone. Well, to Miss Pillsbury maybe, if you know what I mean. But anyway, he’s got guardian written all over his boring vests. He’s a people-pleaser.”

Kurt considers her words for a moment. Now that he thinks about it, Mr. Schue does sound like a valid option. But he doesn’t want to rule anyone else out, either.

“I guess I’ll start with him and work my way through the list,” he says, shrugging.

To no one’s surprise, Santana wants to go after Coach Sylvester. Tina says she’ll check on Principal Figgins because if she has a human run-in with him, she knows how to deal with him (something about vampires that Kurt is sure he must have misheard). Sam is going to observe several of the students on their list and try to get some general information and Brittany offers to spy on Miss Pillsbury.

Blaine is still keen on going after Coach Beiste, and since nobody else fights him on it, Kurt makes plans for later to at least make Blaine promise him he won’t do anything stupid. It reminds him of the reverse conversation they had at McKinley at the Sharing, and he’s sure Blaine has got that argument up his sleeve already – Kurt won’t be able to convince him not to do it. And, in any case, they do need to spy on their prime suspect.

He just hopes this won’t end badly because he’ll never forgive himself for initiating it if it does.

But even through his doubts and fears, he knows it’s time.

The aliens have made their move, now it’s finally time for them to make theirs.

-

Kurt barely manages to fall asleep that night. His wound is still buzzing in a lazy, ache-y way that keeps his body in a constant alert state, and he can’t stop thinking about their mission and Blaine and his dad. On top of that, Brittany keeps flicking her tail in his face as she rolls from side to side in her slumber, and Tina’s snoring like crazy.

It’s the downside to having everyone stay over at the Hummel-Hudson household.

Of course, the upside is that none of them has to face the Yeerks alone in case the one who tried to take down Burt will be back to get his revenge, but right in this moment, Kurt just wants to sleep and not think about any of that.

Eventually, his body does succumb to the hazy fatigue, but even as he falls asleep, his mind is still stirring, and he dreams of alien slugs trying to whisper evil things in his ears as they wiggle inside.

Still worn out and in an eerie, collective silence, they all go about getting dressed and prepared for their mission the next morning. Something heavy sits deep in Kurt’s gut, a feeling that there’s more to come today that they might not be prepared for.

He pushes those thoughts aside and opts to eat his breakfast sitting close to Blaine on the couch in his living room instead, the touch of their sides enough to serve as a much welcome distraction.

They take different routes to school, communicating via thought-speak as everyone except for Finn is in morph. Kurt flies through an open window in the chemistry lab, glad to see that he’s early enough for first period not to have started yet – the door is still wide open and only a few students are already filing into the room so it’s relatively easy to find the perfect moment to glide through the open door and fly along the hallway to meet up with the others at the auditorium – which is empty at this time of the day, as it always is.

As planned, they meet up at the auditorium – just like last time – and morph back to sit in a circle and go over their individual missions to make sure everybody knows where the others are heading. They take just enough time so that first period has started once they’re done – that way, they’re less likely to be caught snooping around.

The only one who’s already mingling by that time is Finn who headed straight to class so he wouldn’t be suspicious. Kurt’s heartbeat picks up its pace every time he thinks of his brother – and especially the multiple ways today could go wrong for him – so he distracts himself by focusing on the mission.

Sam is the first to leave, planning to use his spider morph to go through students’ lockers or observe them in class. Santana and Brittany are on their way next, splitting up to check on Coach Sylvester and Miss Pillsbury.

Tina, Blaine and Kurt leave the auditorium together but Tina’s quick to leave them alone.

“Alright, Principal Figgins,” she says to herself as she turns on her heel, “here comes your worst nightmare…”

Kurt was going to tell her to stay safe but finds himself biting his cheek as she’s obviously already lost in her own world.

Well, then there’s only one other person in the group he needs to separate from. He turns to Blaine with a lump in a throat.

“Blaine?”

Blaine’s already looking at him with the exact same look Kurt suspects on his own face.

“Yeah?”

Kurt steps close to him, his heart pounding so hard in his chest he’s sure Blaine must be able to hear it in the empty, quiet hallway.

“I was just wondering…” Kurt trails off. God, he can’t do this.

Why do things always have to be spelled out so clearly?

Blaine blinks, tilts his head. He looks the definition of wonderful and _perfect_ and he could maybe, possibly, hopefully be all Kurt’s if Kurt wasn’t being such a coward right now.

“Wondering what?” Blaine asks.

Kurt’s already making up an elaborate excuse in his head when Sam’s voice comes through to them.

_< Just saw Mr. Schue,>_ he says. _< He doesn’t have a class, apparently. He’s on his way to the choir room, I think.>_

Oh, well, that’s the excuse Kurt needs. He glances at Blaine apologetically, makes to turn away, but he’s stopped in his tracks by Blaine’s hand on his arm.

“Hey, Kurt,” Blaine whispers, eyes suddenly swimming with emotion. “Stay low, please? I know this is just a recon mission but… I… I c-can’t lose you.”

Before Kurt can respond, Blaine’s lips are on his, sweet with underlying urgency and _want_ , and Kurt just loses it.

Screw it, he’s going to do this.

“When all of this is over,” he says, words tumbling out of his mouth quickly as he takes Blaine’s face in his hands and presses their noses and foreheads together, “will you-”

_< Rachel’s keeping tabs on Mr. Schue in her notebook,>_ Sam tells him. _< I just went through her stuff in her locker. Might be her usual level of craziness when it comes to Glee club but this is, like, really detailed. She’s probably controlled so I’d say chances are good Mr. Schue’s our guardian. Are you already after him? I haven’t seen Rachel in any class so she might be skipping… so be careful.>_

“Crap, I really need to go,” Kurt mutters, sighing and stepping away from Blaine in a flash.

He sprints down the hallway, forcing himself not to look back at Blaine, and morphs into Pavarotti after a few steps.

His question can wait. The world can’t, and it relies on Kurt to keep his wits about him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo, I'm back with the cliffhangers! ;) (This one isn't that bad, though, is it?)
> 
> Also, I'm going to have to put this on another one-week hiatus - so the next update is going to be in two weeks. The reason for that is actually rather pleasant because I am going on a vacation. :) And I'll probably have little time to tend to my fic - and also possibly bad wifi where I'm staying. So, sit tight and I'll see you in two weeks with the second to last chapter!


	7. Discoveries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooo. I have to upload this from the library because I don't have wifi at home at the moment. That's dedication, huh? :P

As passionate as their goodbye was, it was also pretty quick, and Blaine feels his lips tingling with unsatisfied yearning.

And he’s pretty sure Kurt just almost asked him a very significant question, the one that’s been dancing around in Blaine’s head all day.

The downside to this new life of fighting crime and aliens? You don’t get enough time to deal with relationship issues the modern way – pulling up Facebook and sending a simple relationship request.

Okay, in all fairness, Blaine probably wouldn’t resort to that method, even if he could, but… the real downside to all of this is that they don’t get any time at all to themselves – communication has to happen in passing, somehow mashed in between fight training, alien interrogations and recon missions. It’s not enough, and it’s made even worse by this unsettling feeling in his chest that every moment could be goodbye in earnest.

He blinks his eyes a few times to keep the tears building there in check.

Pushing the unpleasant thoughts away, he tries to focus on the positive – they’re all alive and well, and thus far pretty successful with their recon mission. Sam is already getting good results in, keeping them updated on which students are safe and which ones they should avoid if they don’t want any run-ins with Yeerks, and nobody has been interrupted.

Blaine himself hasn’t been that successful yet, though he’s already snooping through his target’s office – Coach Beiste isn’t in this early due to morning football practice on the field as Finn has informed him – and opening drawer after drawer. However, there are no signs of alien activity, and Blaine is getting a little desperate, as he clearly demonstrates when he starts pulling random books from the shelf in hope of finding a secret door.

Nothing. No clues at all. Are the Yeerks this thorough?

_Or maybe she’s no longer under their control,_ he thinks.

But isn’t that absurd? She was clearly involved in the process of recruiting new hosts, and she seemed to have some power, too.

Blaine sighs. Maybe it’ll be easier to spy on her once she comes back from the football field. He could morph into the hedgehog and hide somewhere in a corner.

In any case, it’ll make it easier to communicate with the others. So far, he’s been pretty quiet, just listening to their updates, but maybe it’ll be better to check in with one or two of them as well.

Especially with one of them.

_< Kurt…>_ he thought-speaks as soon as he’s in hedgehog form and hidden from view under the large office desk, right next to the bin. _< Kurt, about your question earlier… if you were asking what I think you were, then… Yes. I would love that.>_

He waits for a response, tells himself Kurt just needs some time to form an answer, maybe to process what he’s heard, but minutes tick by without any kind of signal that he’s even gotten through to Kurt.

Just to be sure, not to panic right away, he sends a message out to everyone. After all, maybe they’re all busy doing stuff in human form, or maybe he’s out of range…?

_< Are you alright, guys?>_

Several people respond back within seconds, the only delayed answer coming from Tina who says, _< Sorry, just got out of Figgins’ office, wasn’t morphed. He’s clean, no alien involvement whatsoever.>_

No answer from Kurt, though.

Before Blaine can ask about him, Santana interrupts, _< How the fuck did Figgins manage to stay out of all this? Man, that guy’s life is a damn boat cruise. Wish we had that luxury.>_

_< Wish I had a boat,>_ Brittany says, to which Sam responds, _< Guys? Focus.>_

_< Yeah, why do you ask, Blaine?>_ Tina asks, concern seeping into her voice. _< Did something happen?>_

Blaine’s about to explain the situation when he hears footsteps coming closer – and, from the sound of it, stopping right in front of Beiste’s office. Was the door open when he got here? Did he just get himself into some serious trouble?

He should probably alert his friends just in case.

_< Got company,>_ Blaine says instead of telling them he’s fine like he was going to before.

They’re asking questions, like who and where and other complicated stuff he can’t really concentrate on because he’s too busy trying to see who it is. It’s difficult to get a good look, though, as the desk he’s sitting under is closed off on all sides and he can barely fit the hedgehog’s head under the sturdy wood to peek at the person that’s now entering the office.

The only way out from under the desk is the direction of the desk chair. The thought of escaping in that direction is in the back of Blaine’s mind but he did choose this spot specifically to spy on Beiste, so he might as well sit it out, even if he has a strong feeling that it isn’t the football coach who just walked into the room.

His suspicion is confirmed when Tina tells him a minute later that the football team is still practicing outside, and also when a pair of black pumps and legs hidden under white knee-high socks come into view right in front of the desk chair.

There’s only one person at McKinley with that style.

Rachel.

And according to Sam’s findings, alien-controlled, well-informed and keeping-tabs-on-Mr-Schue Rachel.

At least he’s not spying for nothing, then.

But what’s her angle? If Rachel is now looking for things in Coach Beiste’s office, does that mean they had the wrong person framed for Visser Two? Why would a controller spy on their leader? Or is Rachel actually one of the good guys…? Meaning that Mr Schue might be a bad guy and Kurt could potentially be in grave danger?

Steadily increasing worry for Kurt clouds his brain. Mixed with the millions of questions he’s getting via thought-speak, Blaine’s head is reeling. In a short moment of clarity, he decides to answer at least one of their inquiries.

_< It’s Rachel,>_ he says at the exact same time that the girl in question leans down to look for something under the table and Blaine’s heart skips a few very alarming beats.

He’s lucky the bin is keeping him out of plain sight but he’ll be screwed if Rachel decides to move it.

The voices of his friends ring in his head as they all tell him to stay put as they’re coming to his rescue.

All except for Kurt, Blaine thinks, his heartbeat picking up in speed until it’s out of control. Something can’t be right about this.

_< Are you okay?>_ he sends out to Kurt alone, hoping it’ll reach him this time.

Again, no luck. God, what if…?

_Don’t go down that road, Blaine_ , he tells himself, but fails desperately. The scenarios start rushing in. Kurt under Yeerk control. Kurt screaming for help, for Blaine, right before one of those slugs creeps into his ear and makes him not Kurt. Kurt looking at Blaine with ice cold, ruthless eyes that don’t belong to him. And, even worse, Kurt not being controlled – Kurt being tortured instead, Kurt bleeding to death without anyone coming to his rescue. Kurt lying on the floor, dead…

Close to losing his mind, Blaine’s close to telling his friends to abandon him and look for Kurt instead, when, all of a sudden, Rachel does move the bin, and his _other_ problem reenters his mind.

What does he do now?

Rachel squeaks a little when she sees the hedgehog, her eyes widening for a second before she tilts her head curiously.

She’s silent for a few seconds, and Blaine flinches when she reaches out her hand to capture he hedgehog. It would have really paid off to be a spider right now, Blaine thinks in his panic, moving away from Rachel as far as he can, his spikes pressing into the wood behind him.

Her hand stills.

“Wait…” she breathes out. “Kurt?”

_What now?_

For a second, Blaine thinks he’d better get as far away from Rachel as possible if she knows this much but then again, she knows about Kurt…

_Kurt lying on the floor, dead._

The decision is easy, really.

Blaine morphs.

-

Kurt opens his eyes slowly and hisses at the way his head is pounding as the world seems to slowly spin before his eyes, it’s a black whirl…

And then it stops. And it’s still black.

Reaching out a hand to his left hesitantly, he groans when it just touches a cool, metal-like surface. He starts repeating the move to the right and above his head but there’s nothing but barriers.

To feel the bottom of whatever he’s in, he’d have to bend down, which is impossible because the space is so narrow, so he slides his foot around on the ground.

Well, fuck. Cold metal on all four sides.

He turns around helplessly. There’s one tiny ray of light coming in through a crack above him.

He shuffles closer to the source of light.

“Help,” he starts, clears his dry throat and starts again, even though his voice is barely above a whisper. “… think I’m trapped.”

He waits patiently; it’s all he can do.

What happened?

And where even _is_ he?

“Anyone out there?” he asks tiredly.

His eyes droop close again as he slumps again one of the metal walls.

There is no answer.

* * *

“Blaine, I-” Rachel stares at him, her eyes widening again. She blinks the surprise away, says, “What are you doing under there?”

Blaine glares. “You’re in no position to ask me that. What have you done with Kurt?”

Rachel’s lips start trembling.

“Something happened to Kurt?” she asks, voice shrill. “Oh, and… why- how- I mean, you can _transform_ -”

“Don’t play that card,” Blaine hisses. “I’m not stupid. You thought the hedgehog was Kurt which means you know _something_ about us.”

Rachel sighs. “About _him_ ,” she clarifies, her eyes now flitting over Blaine curiously. “I had no idea you were one of us, too.”

Blaine sits up so fast he hits his head on the desk.

“Ow,” he grumbles. “What do you mean, one of us?!”

“Don’t play that card.” Rachel rolls her eyes. “Morphing, Blaine? Last time I checked – not a human ability.” She eyes him with suspicion. “Not for full humans, at least.”

“You need to update your database, then,” Blaine tells her with a pointed look. “I _am_ human. Same as- oh, wait, he isn’t- I mean, not…” He takes a deep breath to get his thoughts in order. “If you’re _not_ fully human, are you… like Kurt?”

“Meaning…?”

It’s clear she won’t trust him unless he spells it out. The feeling is somewhat mutual, although she’s already blurted out enough for Blaine to suspect that she’s not controlled by a Yeerk. They seem to operate a little bit more on the subtle side of things.

“Meaning half-Andalite,” he says when she doesn’t stop staring him down.

“Yes.” Rachel sticks up her chin. “But I prefer Andalite American.”

_< Yay, minorities,>_ Santana’s voice comes through, her tone dripping with sarcasm. _< Can we cut to the chase already?>_

“Santana!” Blaine exclaims. “Where…?”

Rachel gets up from her crouched-down position to look over the desk.

“There’s a huge rhino in the doorway,” she says. “I’m assuming-”

“That would be Santana, yes,” Blaine replies, pushing himself out from under the desk to examine the situation as well. “What are you doing, Santana?”

_< Came to rescue you from the alien. But now I’m…>_ The rhino wiggles a little in the doorway. _< Ugh, I think I’m stuck.>_

Blaine suppresses a laugh as Santana finally gives up the moving and instead just morphs back to fix him with a murderous glare.

Rachel puts her hands on her hip with a frustrated noise. “Alright, who else is in on this?! This is _outrageous_ , I thought-”

“Let me stop you right there, Alien-American Horror Story,” Santana says, holding up a finger to keep Rachel from going into full rant-mode. “What’s _outrageous_ is that if you know about Kurt, he must know about you, right? Like, what the fuck, is he keeping things from us?”

“Kurt wouldn’t-” Blaine starts but is interrupted when Tina comes running their way, her arms gesticulating wildly.

“Coach Beiste is coming back from the field!” she pants, letting her hands rest on her knees when she comes to a halt behind Santana. “Not sure what is going on here but-”

“He can’t know I was in here!” Rachel breathes out loudly.

“He…?” Santana asks with a frown but Rachel is too busy rushing out of the room to answer her.

Blaine, Santana and Tina stare after her as she makes her way down the hallway.

“Rachel!” Blaine half-yells, trying to keep his voice down, and groaning when she ignores him. “What about Kurt?!”

“Should we go after her?” Tina asks? “She doesn’t seem to be very… smooth when it comes to keeping things undercover.”

Santana nods, and Blaine gets to work to put the bin back where it was before Rachel knocked it aside. He examines the office one last time before closing the door behind them when they leave to catch up with Rachel.

* * *

_< Guys, I’m trapped!>_ Kurt sends out in thought-speak, the cage seeming huge in his bird morph. His head is screaming so he knows it’ll be loud in the others’ heads as well. _< Blaine, please! Santana, Tina, Sam, Brittany! Finn! Anyone!>_

It’s of no avail.

An ache from his wound makes him whimper. It feels worse again. Somebody must have hurt him physically, and Pavarotti’s proportions are not ideal for a wound that big. Heart beating rapidly, Kurt struggles to morph back to human form.

_I’m here_ , he cries in his own head when he’s finally himself again, wishing his human thoughts could be heard as well. _Please hear me, please._

Silence. Only silence.

* * *

Rachel rounds a corner and all of a sudden, she’s gone.

“Fucking hell!” Santana grits out. “Our first lead!”

“Not just that,” Tina says. “You guys know this means she’s probably the guardian, right?”

“But she’s _half_ -Andalite,” Blaine says. “Or, uh- Andalite American. Whatever… she’s like Kurt. Wouldn’t they send a full-grown Andalite as their protector?”

The girls look at each other and shrug.

Blaine leans against the nearest wall in defeat, feeling his legs give in a little.

“Hey, Blaine, you okay?” Tina asks him.

“Kurt isn’t answering my thoughts,” he mumbles, trying not to go into full panic mode again. His eyes feel hot, he blinks angrily. “What if he’s-”

Trying to will his tears back down, he looks up at the ceiling – and frowns when he finds a gecko looking right at him.

“Rachel!” he exclaims breathlessly, and the gecko breaks out into a sprint down the hallway. “Guys, she’s running!”

They take off after her, cursing when Rachel speeds up.

_< Why would she run?>_ Santana asks as she morphs into her cat mid-run. _< I thought she’s on our side!>_

_< Who’s running?>_ Brittany asks.

_< Berry. She’s headed for the back exit.>_

Blaine looks around himself before morphing as well. _< You and Sam should join us, Brittany,>_ he says as soon as his dog legs hit the ground. _< I have feeling we shouldn’t split up anymore.>_

They follow Rachel to the back exit of the school where she hurriedly crawls down the ceiling and continues her path to the football field.

_< Kurt?>_ Blaine tries again. Maybe Kurt’s is somewhere outside, out of reach from the school building but close enough for the compound. _< Kurt, please say something.>_

There’s no answer, and Blaine wills himself to run a bit faster to catch Rachel.

Sam and Brittany catch up with them when Rachel slows down a little – they’re approaching the bleachers now – and she seems to have finally hit her breaking point when they reach the corner of the bleachers where the skanks usually hang out.

She morphs back – still impeccably dressed, Blaine notices, or at least as impeccable as one can call her style – and turns around, her face pale.

“There’s so many of you,” she breathes out.

They all morph back as well. Santana plumps down on a bench, taking Brittany with her.

“Missing one at the moment,” she drawls. “And you obviously pretend to know less than you actually do. Where is Kurt?”

“I have no idea where he is, okay?” Rachel huffs out. “I didn’t know he was missing!”

“Then what’s your angle, Rachel?” Sam asks. “Why’d you run?”

Rachel crosses her arms. “I wasn’t going to tell you anything in the middle of the hallway,” she says. “The Yeerks are everywhere.”

Tina looks her up and down skeptically. “How do we know that you’re not one of them?”

“You _just_ saw me morph.” Rachel gestures to herself. “Yeerks can’t do that.”

_< You could still be controlled,>_ Brittany says.

“I’m not!” Rachel turns around to face the cat. “I’m keeping notes on them, too.” She spins back around to look at Sam. “I know you saw them, Sam, you broke into my locker.”

Sam seems to be torn between looking impressed and appalled that she caught him spying on her, so Blaine jumps into the conversation instead.

“You kept a close eye on Mr Schue,” he remembers. “So he’s not the guardian. He’s evil… is he their leader?”

It makes sense – Kurt goes after him, Kurt goes missing. It _must_ be him.

Rachel nods slowly, her eyes flitting around nervously.

It seems weird for a second that even though she’s having a conversation with him, her eyes seem to be looking anywhere but Blaine’s but as soon as he hears noises behind him, he knows it’s because the nod wasn’t in response to him – it was a signal.

As if in confirmation, Rachel slides down onto the ground and buries her face in her hands.

“I’m so sorry!” she cries.

* * *

Kurt has no idea if it’s been minutes or hours since he has been down here.

He tries to recall what happened before he was captured but all he knows is that he flew to Mr. Schue’s office, picked the lock there and let himself in to check his desk. After that, his memory is as black as the space around him.

And does it really matter? Maybe he’s better off not knowing.

Because there’s a faint dripping sound every other second or so and it didn’t take Kurt long to realize that he’s bleeding again. Whatever happened to him, it must have ripped his stitches, maybe torn open his wound…

A sob escapes him. He doesn’t want to die.

“ _Blackbird singing in the dead of night_ ,” he whispers quietly, leaning against the wall with his back – the only way his body can get a bit of a rest seeing how it’s too small to actually lie down – and trying to forget about the world. “ _Spread these broken wings and learn to fly…_ ” He raises his voice a little. “ _All your life…_ ”

He sniffles. Will he ever see Blaine again? His dad? Finn?

“ _You were only waiting for this moment to arise…_ ”

“ _Waiting_ for this moment, really? Interesting choice.”

Kurt scrambles to lean up a little, wincing as his body protests in pain.

“Finn?!”

“Rescue squad reporting for duty,” Finn mumbles. “How the fuck did they get you in there?”

“Oh god, I’m so happy to hear your voice,” Kurt babbles. “I thought I wasn’t ever going to see or hear any of you ever again. Are the others with you? Where’s Blaine?”

“It’s just me.” There’s a clanking sound of metal on metal. “Damn, this thing’s secure.”

“Try again!” Kurt urges. “Let me know if I can help. How did you know where to find me?”

“Coach told me how to get down here.”

“Coach…?” Kurt squints at the small ray of light above him, as if he might be able to spot Finn through it. Finn is much taller him than him, after all. “Coach Sylvester?”

“Beiste.”

* * *

Tina screams next to him and it’s the only warning Blaine gets before his hands are bound by someone way taller and stronger than him.

Across from him, Sam is being grabbed by Azimio, and Santana is struggling to keep Puck off of her. When Puck tightens his grip, she rolls her eyes, murmuring, “Morons, we can just-”

Her face is already turning grey and her nose is transforming into a horn when there’s a loud meow and Brittany’s voice comes to them, week and soft, _< Please don’t.>_

On the bench, Jacob Ben Israel is holding a knife in one hand and Brittany in his other.

Santana stops morphing immediately but her face stays grey.

“Brittany,” she whispers, her eyes widening. Her voice breaks when she addresses Jacob, “Don’t hurt her, please.”

“You’ll be responsible if I do,” he tells her. “You morph, she dies.”

Santana’s face is crumpling. Blaine’s heart breaks as he watches silent tears flow down her cheeks. She never loses eye contact with Brittany.

“Rachel,” Blaine croaks, trying to be compliant enough for the Yeerks not to think he’s acting up and kill Brittany. “Why?”

Rachel’s face is tear-streaked as well when she looks up at him.

“They have my dads,” she says. “They wanted… I had to give them…”

Blaine closes his eyes, finally understanding what’s going on.

“Kurt.” When his eyes open, he’s not crying. His gaze turns cold as he looks at Rachel. “You told them about-”

“No, I didn’t!” Rachel exclaims, looking desperate, earnest eyes pleading with Blaine. “They wanted him, yes. But I didn’t know where he was! I was looking for information about him – and then _you_ came along. And Santana. _And_ Tina. And I figured…” She looks down, shame evident on her face. “Any of their enemies would do.”

“You sold us out!” Tina spits out angrily. “You lying little-”

“Tina!” Santana begs as Jacob holds the knife a little closer to Brittany’s shuddering cat body. “Don’t, don’t, don’t, _please_. They’ll kill her.”

Tina shuts her mouth immediately, looking down at her feet with a choked-off sob.

“I am sorry,” Rachel whispers. “I am _so_ sorry.”

“That’s enough,” the one behind Blaine grunts. For the first time, he realizes that the one holding him is an adult, and he knows the voice from somewhere.

But… from where exactly?

Blaine twists his neck a little to see who is holding him in place without making too much movement, lest they think he’s trying to escape (not that the thought hasn’t crossed his mind, even though it’s pretty much hopeless). But they’ve got a too tight grip on him.

Just as he’s turning his head back around subtly, he’s startled by a message in thought-speak.

_< It’s going to be okay.>_

It’s that same voice.

* * *

“Beiste?” Kurt frowns, and then suddenly feels his heart hammering harder. Their prime suspect. “Finn… you’re… oh my god. Oh my god.”

“… what?”

“What are you going to do to me?”

“Kurt, I-”

“I’m going to scream. I’m not going down quietly.”

“Dude, you _need_ to keep your voice down, they’ll catch-”

“Sure, be quiet so you can dispose of my body without any hassle, that’s grand. I’ll-”

“Kurt!” Finn whispers gravelly but in the silence it sounds like a bellow. “Whatever you’re thinking, you’re wrong. I’m here to save you, and Coach Beiste is on our side. I pretended to be a Yeerk to get down here, they put you in a secluded room far away from their gathering place so you’d be disoriented and less motivated to scream for help. Coach is trying to stop an ambush up there, so… we’ve got nothing to worry about except for how to get you out of this fucking coffin, okay?”

“I…” Kurt is at a loss for words. “Coach Beiste’s not… but… Ambush? I- wait, _coffin_?!”

“Sorry, bad choice of words, I don’t know what to call this. It’s a box, like- like those things they have in Egypt where they keep the mummies in, you know?”

“A sarcophagus?” Kurt asks breathlessly, feeling like he’s about to throw up at any given moment. “That doesn’t sound much better than a coffin.”

“Right, sorry. I just meant because it’s standing up, not lying on the ground. But, uh, yeah, it’s like a cage thingy but no bars. The others have bars. It’s fucking creepy down there, man. People in cages, slugs creeping up ears. Can’t believe I had one of those inside me. Ugh. I don’t think I like having things inside me. No offense.”

“Why would that- oh god, never mind.” That’s definitely Finn, then. He closes his eyes, tries to think. He comes up short. “Is there a lock or something? I’d try the crack but I don’t have a morph that’s small enough.”

“Morph!” Finn exclaims in a whisper. “Yes, Coach Beiste said you needed to morph!”

“Well, that’s not gonna solve anything,” Kurt says with a sigh. “Not even Pavarotti would fit through here.”

“Of course not, he weighs, like, 400 pounds or something.”

“The bird, Finn. The bird.”

“Oh.” Finn sighs. “Sorry I’m such a bad savior.”

Kurt gulps. “Don’t be. I’m glad you’re here. My knight in shining armor.”

There’s a smirk behind Finn’s next words. “Isn’t that Blaine’s job?”

Well, at least it’s dark enough so no one can see Kurt blush.

“I don’t know,” Kurt mumbles. “Maybe not. I didn’t get to ask him… you know. If he’d be my boyfriend.”

“That’s crazy.” Finn chuckles. “Have you _seen_ the way he looks at you? Like, even when you were just friends or whatever, he was completely head over heels. Any idiot could see that. Well…”

“Any idiot but me?” Kurt smiles, his heart warming. “Thanks, Finn. I guess… I guess that’s beside the point now, anyway, right?”

“Kinda.” There’s another clacking sound. “This lock doesn’t even budge in the slightest. Where’s a sledge hammer when you need one, huh?”

“Finn, you said something about an ambush,” Kurt says, giving up on the hope to ever get out of the cage. “Do you think they’ll be okay? Do you know who it is? Or who knocked me out?”

“I don’t really know much,” Finn admits. “Coach sent me down here because someone said that you were missing. I saw a bunch of people down here who are in on this shit, but, like, innocent people, of course, like mom and me. They’re just… controlled.”

“Okay.” Kurt closes his eyes to follow Finn’s words. He’s talking quickly, and it’s a lot to process. “Okay… and- how did Coast Beiste know to talk to you?”

“I- oh, I didn’t tell you that!” Finn sounds like he’s close to facepalming. “Your friend Wes is free now. Burt called me as soon as it happened.”

“My dad called?!” Kurt almost lets out another sob. If his dad knew that Kurt was trapped, he’d probably… god, no. Kurt hopes he _doesn’t_ know. “What did he say?”

“Wes’ guy had way more information than mom or me,” Finn starts. “He was appointed to lead the Dalton section of the expanding Yeerk imperium. At least that’s what Wes called it. And, dude, he was, like, _so_ shaken up by everything. I heard his voice through the speaker, he was _sobbing_ , I’ve never heard a guy cry like that before, and-”

“Finn, focus,” Kurt interrupts before Finn can continue to admire Wes for staying in touch with his emotions. He does feel for Wes, of course, but there are more important things to talk about right now. “The phone call. My dad. Beiste. What happened?”

“Right. So I got the call while I was benched so I figured nobody would notice if I went into the locker room to talk to Burt. But I was so wrapped up in trying to listen to everything that I didn’t notice Mike came after me. He almost knocked me out but in the last second, Coach showed up and tasered him. It looked cool, man. Like a 3D action movie but, like, real.”

“Oh god, is Mike okay?”

“He will be,” Finn replies, sounding a little spooked. “He was unconscious and sprawled out in the middle of the locker room, so... we had to get rid of him. We, uh… we locked him in one of those porta potties. That was my idea.” He pauses. “Remember when people used to do that?”

“People,” Kurt echoes softly, refraining from pointing out that Finn was one of those people once, but judging from the regretful tone of Finn’s voice, a reminder isn’t needed, anyway.

“So, yeah,” Finn says awkwardly. “Anyway, Coach and I talked to your dad after that. Apparently Wes knew the leader. That V-something guy. And, it’s… well, we had it wrong. It’s Mr Schue.”

“He is behind all this?” Kurt mumbles. “God, and to think we gave him the benefit of the doubt just because he wears vests.”

“Yeah, you went after him thinking he was the good guy...” Finn shudders. “Do you remember seeing him anywhere? Did he knock you out?”

Kurt sighs. “I don’t remember anything besides breaking into his office.”

“They got you good, huh? How are you holding up?”

Even in the dark, Kurt finds himself ducking his head in an attempt to hide the truth.

“I’m good.”

“Sure?”

“Totally.”

“Kurt.”

He sighs. “Fine, Finn, my wound is acting up. But it’s been two days, that’s probably normal.”

“Kurt…”

“What do you want me to say, Finn?” Kurt snaps, half-bitter, half-scared, and twice as keen on masking both as annoyance. “That I’m in pain? That I’ll die? I have no idea what’s going to happen, I can’t lie down because I’m apparently in a fucking sarcophagus, and I can’t even _see_ the amount of blood I’m losing…”

“I-” Finn stops, sucks in a breath. “I just don’t want you to die in there.”

Finn’s voice breaks a little, and in turn, it breaks Kurt’s heart.

“I don’t want to die in here, either,” Kurt whisper.

They’re silent for a minute until Kurt winces because he can hear the next droplet of blood splashing onto the ground.

There’s rustling outside of his cage.

“Okay, that’s it,” Finn says. “I’m going back down to find something to break this cage open with. Or a key. You’ll be out before you know it, okay?”

Kurt wants to ask a million more question – whether his dad said if he was coming to the school, if Finn has _any_ more information about that ambush Beiste is trying to stop, if Beiste is the guardian they were looking for, how Beiste knew that Finn had to come down here to look for Kurt – but he knows they’re losing time by talking, so he mumbles a small, “okay,” and slumps back against the wall of the metal box when Finn leaves. His wound aches and his legs give in a little but he squeezes his eyes shut and bites his lip hard enough to somewhat ignore it.

Now, where was he?

“ _All your life_ ,” he sings. “ _You were only waiting for this moment to be free..._ ”

* * *

The video. That’s where Blaine knows that voice from.

“Coach Beiste,” Tina whispers next to Blaine, and David Karofsky, who has her in a headlock, knocks her forward forcefully.

“What did you say?” he grunts.

“N- nothing,” she stammers, her eyes flitting to Brittany. She’s still safe, though. “Nothing.”

“That’s more like it.” Karofsky turns to Blaine’s captor – Beiste – and lifts an eyebrow. “What are we supposed to do with them now? Kill them?”

“No.” Beiste’s voice is cold on the outside but the gentle voice from inside Blaine’s head still rings through. They’ll be okay. “We’re bringing them to the boss.”

“Is that safe?” Puck asks.

“He requested it,” Beiste counters. “Do you want to go against his orders?”

Puck shakes his head. “What about the cat? We don’t need her.”

Santana whimpers, her tear-filled eyes still trained on Brittany.

“Bonus gift for the boss.” Beiste shrugs. “Might still turn out to be useful. Give her here, I’ll take the stupid thing.” Jacob hands Brittany over hesitantly, looking almost insecure now that he doesn’t have anyone to hold on to. “You take the girl.”

All eyes turn to Rachel and she lifts up her head in shock.

“Me?!” she gasps, voice almost impossibly high, and wow, is she… acting? Blaine’s eyes almost bulge out of his head. She’s laying it on thicker than just before, almost unnoticeable, but Blaine is paying closer attention now. “But- you said-”

“We said you get your dads back when you deliver to the boss,” Beiste says grimly. “Nothing’s been delivered just yet, you’re coming down with us.”

Jacob’s already seizing Rachel, and she kicks around herself in protest.

“Fuck, is she for real?” Puck asks. “Stop struggling or we’ll taser you.”

Rachel’s body goes rigid, causing Jacob to finally get a hold of her. He steps close to her, and for a moment, it looks like he’s sniffing her hair.

“I can’t believe this,” she mutters, wrinkling her nose, and, yes, this time, her disgust is real.

_< Just play along for now,>_ Beiste says. _< It’ll be easier to overpower them in a small space. Let’s get to the tunnel first.>_

Blaine almost asks about the tunnel but bites his tongue in the last second.

They’re being led inside again, down the hallway they ran through to get to Rachel – and what _is_ she, a _double_ double agent? – all the way to the office right next to the choir room. Blaine knows whose room this is immediately, knows who went to spy here, and can’t conceal his reaction when he takes in the wide-open door, the out-of-place-looking desk apparently moved to the side for some reason… and the large amount of blood on the surface of the desk.

“Kurt!” he screams, his insides cold with fear. “What have you done to him? Where are you keeping him?!”

_< Sssh, sssh, we’ll get to him. Don’t make a scene.>_

Blaine’s about to yell at Beiste, to throw caution to the wind and just morph into the bear and tear them all to pieces, when a sudden movement to his right makes him stop in his tracks.

“Fuck this shit,” Tina hisses, ducking down quickly and making a grab for Karofsky’s left side, pulling a taser out of his jacket and using it on him in a flash. Karofsky goes down instantly, and before Blaine knows it, Beiste hands him a taser as well and punches Azimio to his left who struggles for a second but falls to the ground after a precise kick to the stomach by Santana.

Puck springs to action and almost tasers her but she’s faster, crouching down with his left arm in her grip and hauling him up over her head until he lands on the desk with a loud bang.

Blaine takes one last measuring look at his taser and jumps over to Rachel and Jacob, pressing the taser to his neck. He pulls the trigger, which makes Jacob howl in pain before his grip on Rachel eases and he slumps down against her. She steps aside with a frown on her face, and Jacob falls face-forward to the ground. The cracking sound, undoubtedly coming from his nose, makes Blaine cringe.

Everyone is frantically looking around, trying to figure out if there’s anyone left to defeat – but all of their captors lie on the ground, unconscious.

“Wow, that went better than I thought it would go the first time,” Tina says with an impressed nod.

“Don’t rest on your oars,” Beiste grunts. “That could have gone much, much worse.”

“Yeah, for starters, you could have waited until we gave you the signal,” Rachel complains, turning to Blaine with a judging look on her face.

Blaine growls. “If you don’t take me to Kurt right this instant, Rachel-”

“For the last time, I _don’t_ know where he is!” Rachel hisses, getting all up in Blaine’s face, and _god_ , he’s this close from ripping her to pieces, from just-

“Kids, kids,” Beiste says, stepping between them. “We’re all on the same side, okay? And Rachel doesn’t know where Kurt is but… I sent Finn after him.”

Rachel suddenly whips around. “What?!”

“You did?” Blaine asks at the same time.

Beiste nods. “I’m sure we’ll get him back in no time.”

Blaine closes his eyes in relief. He knows there’s still a chance Kurt is not well but… a little glimmer of hope flickers in his chest, and he lets himself belief in it.

“Thank you,” he whispers, voice breaking. “Thank you, uh…”

Somehow, addressing an Andalite guardian with “coach” doesn’t seem quite right. And wasn’t Starchild a prince? Maybe “Your Highness” would be more appropriate.

Beiste grins. “It’s alright, kiddo. And call me Sheldon.”

* * *

Kurt keeps singing the song over and over again until he loses count.

He can feel his energy draining, though, and almost falls asleep on the last run-through, his knees already alarmingly close to giving in.

“ _Spread your… broken wings…_ ” he gets out before his eyes fall shut on their own account.

It’s the exact same moment in which Finn returns and the loud noise of his knocking against the metal makes Kurt jump a little.

“I’m here, I’m here,” Finn pants. “I, uh, had to search the whole area. They don’t really have a tool shed or anything, which is weird because, have you ever wondered how they dug this cave in the first place…?”

“No,” Kurt whispers. “Not the highest… priority on… the list.”

“Right, sorry.” Finn clicks his tongue. “Anyway, I found this pickaxe, so here goes.”

He has barely finished the sentence when he lets the pickaxe smash against the lock of the cage, and Kurt jumps for real this time because the noise hurts his ears.

“Ow,” he winces.

“Did I hurt you?”

“Loud…”

“Sorry.” Finn sounds a little bashful. “But this is all I have.”

“Go ahead,” Kurt says stubbornly. “I’ll... cover… my ears.”

The next smash fades out behind the safety of his hands over his ears and Kurt smiles to himself in victory, though at the same time, the muffled background noises make him drowsy. It doesn’t take long until his knees buckle and he sways to the side. He only catches himself at the last second.

With the next muted clonk, he’s out like a light, crashing into the side of the metal cave.

* * *

“We better be on the move,” Sheldon announces once they have carried the bodies of their Yeerk captors to the choir room and locked the door behind them. “The Yeerks will notice this soon.”

Maybe it would have been smart to bring Kurt’s dad’s rope, even if they were just going on a recon mission. Blaine chances a look at the others, who all look like they have been having similar thoughts.

What a bunch of heroes they are.

“Hey,” Sheldon says. “Chins up, okay? I wish we had more time to discuss this, too, but between all of us, we have a lot of power. In fact, until today, I had no idea Rachel and I even _had_ any allies.”

“Well, we did know of Kurt,” Rachel mutters, her face unreadable ever since Sheldon told them that Finn went after Kurt.

“Whom you tried to sell out,” Santana snarls. She’s been hugging Brittany closely to her chest ever since they’ve been freed, and this is the first time she’s spoken. “You tried to sell us all out.”

“I didn’t.” Rachel crosses her arms. “How many times do I have to tell you I had to get you to Sheldon?”

“And you couldn’t have told us? Thought-speak and all that?”

Rachel’s face turns pink, and Sheldon throws her a worried look.

“We’ll talk about this in a minute,” he says. “First, we need to leave.”

None of them argues with that logic, knowing they could be discovered any second, and they follow Sheldon back to Mr. Schue’s office, where he promptly starts moving the desk.

Blaine shudders at the sight of the blood. God, Kurt could be bleeding out and they’re still nowhere near him…

He’s that lost in worry that he almost misses what’s happening in front of his eyes, and in fact only realizes that he should pay attention when everyone around him gasps.

There’s a hole in the floor, and a ladder leads down the dark path – a dark path that they all know leads to a cave full of aliens.

“We can’t go in there,” Santana says right away. “We’re not even remotely prepared to-”

Blaine doesn’t miss a beat to interrupt her. “Kurt is down there.”

He knows she wants to argue, wants to stay on the safe side and make them come back next week. Brittany is safe and sound right now. Blaine knows he would have agreed with Santana if Kurt was here with them as well.

So he nods down to Brittany in her arms and something in Santana’s eyes shifts immediately. After what just almost happened to her girlfriend, she knows what it’s like to not care about laying your life on the line to safe someone else.

She sighs, and nods grimly. “What are we waiting for, then?” Gesturing for him to go first, she steps aside to give him access.

He’ll have to do this. For Kurt.

When he has his left foot on the ladder, Sheldon starts speaking to them in thought-speak.

_< I’ll do this while we have time and have to go slowly anyway, and I know you want answers. I want to give them to you.>_

Blaine hesitates for a moment but the others urge him to continue to go down the tunnel so they can follow. As he descends, he distracts himself from thinking about what’s down there by paying close attention to what he’s being told.

_< Like I said, I’m Sheldon. Coach Beiste is my main morph and turned out to be useful because it was easy infiltrating the primary group of Yeerks as a teacher at this school. I killed one of their own early on and then pretended to be him, and I climbed up the ranks fast. That way, I knew everything – where they hid, what their plans were, where to attack them. But we were outnumbered, so attacking was not an option. I’m one of the Andalite guardians sent to earth, as I’m sure you have guessed by now. I called for help from our galaxy, and they sent us a ship, but they failed to get here in time. The Yeerks have troops in the galaxy as well, and they staged a quick counter-attack, leading to what I’m assuming is how you got your powers. Starchild, my nephew, died. But he gave you his gift – _our _gift. > _

Blaine finally reaches solid ground and makes room for Sam, who climbed in after him.

_< Now, what I didn’t know was that Starchild had a sister. A half-sister, to be exact. She was born on earth. Her mother gave her up for adoption out of fear to be expelled from our community. That child, Starchild’s sister…>_

“Is me,” Rachel finishes once she’s all the way down as well. “Remember my sophomore year when I went on a quest to find my mom?” She waits for the few out of their group who know the story to nod or hum in confirmation before she continues, “I found a lot more than just my mom that year. Shelby – that’s my mom – is Sheldon’s sister, so when she had to leave, she told me I could always go to my uncle if I had questions. He took me under his wings and taught me all I know…” Her face suddenly twists in shame. “I’ve never disappointed him until...”

She doesn’t finish and instead lets out a quiet sob.

“Rachel,” Sheldon says, tone gentle but warning. “You know this has nothing to do with disappointment. I know why you did it. I just wish you had consulted me sooner so it wouldn’t have come to this.”

Blaine squints in the darkness to see Rachel’s reaction. Her eyes well up with tears.

_< What did you do?>_ Brittany asks.

“I’m so sorry,” Rachel whispers. “The Yeerks caught me snooping and took my dads. They told me I had to bring them Burt and in return, I’d get my dads back. So…” She gulps. “I sent someone.”

“You sent the Yeerk who came to ambush Kurt’s family yesterday?!” Tina exclaims, shocked.

Blaine starts putting together the puzzle pieces in his head. Suddenly it makes sense.

“He came back empty-handed,” he says, shaking his head at Rachel in disbelief. “So you had to do them one better.”

Rachel is shaking by now. “Blaine…” she tries.

“You gave them Kurt,” he says, clenching his jaw.

“No!” Rachel says, voice nothing short of pleading. “Okay, yes, I _tried_.” Blaine growls at her, and she hurries to continue, “But I didn’t have enough information! They said that Burt was married to the Andalite guardian, and that he knew too much. It didn’t take me long to figure out that Kurt was like me, so-”

“Kurt is _nothing_ like you!” Blaine bellows, and everyone shushes him immediately. Blaine’s voice quiets down to a venomous whisper. “He wouldn’t sell his friends out, ever. Not even you.” He turns to the others. “Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely done with this conversation. I’m going to find Kurt. I won’t let my boyfriend bleed to death.”

He whips around without another word and morphs into his bat.

He ignores the voices telling him to wait, and instead flies farther into the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Nananananananananananananana BATMAN"
> 
> That's what a-simple-rainbow, who beta'es the hell out of my nonsense, wrote under this chapter. That's why I love her so much. Ya feel me?
> 
> Aaaand, last but not least, I can finally say: Stay tuned for the last chapter! :)


	8. Defining Moments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are, folks. The final battle. The final chapter. (There will be an epilogue, though, to wrap things up!)

Kurt drifts in and out of consciousness, the steady thump of the pickaxe against the cage making his heartbeat match the pace and keep him grounded enough to at least wake up every other minute.

All the while, Finn is mumbling strings of curse words and pleas – Kurt isn’t sure whether it’s for Kurt, to show him he’s still there, or because Finn is getting increasingly frustrated with his fruitless attempts to get his brother out of his death trap.

The frantic words fade slowly but steadily until there’s silence – peaceful, calming silence.

It’s not threatening at all. On the contrary, Kurt feels like he’s floating on it, like the quiet is carrying him through space. He sighs happily, finally free from the weight of his body. He’s soaring.

“I’m not afraid,” he whispers.

And he’s not. It’s not even dark anymore. Up at the ceiling of his cage, there’s that little light, and it’s suddenly wider than it was before, almost blindingly wide. He tries to reach up but his arms don’t cooperate.

He wants to reach the light, his whole being seems to be focused on going where the light is, and he’s sure that everything will be fine once he’s there. And then-

_< Kurt? Kurt!>_

A voice in his head.

_< Kurt, where are you?>_

It’s not Finn’s.

_< Kurt, I’m looking for you, don’t give up.>_

In fact, it can’t be Finn’s. Finn has never been in his head.

_< Oh my god, I hear Finn. Guys, I hear Finn! Kurt must be near.>_

For a moment, Kurt wonders if that is true. Is Finn still there? There’s only silence around him.

And, oh, the silence… it’s so nice… and the light is so close.

He wants to see it better. Find it. Reach it.

_< Kurt, if you’re hearing this, _please _… >_

Kurt hesitates again.

_< Stay with me, okay?>_

_Okay,_ Kurt thinks. _Okay. I’ll stay._

The light is still there but the silence suddenly stops.

Kurt wants to cover his ears. It’s so loud. Someone is crying.

“Kurt, I’m so sorry…”

“Finn! Where’s Kurt?”

There are louder sobs. Then shuffling near the cage.

“Kurt! Kurt, can you hear me? Please, Kurt, say something. Kurt! Oh god, oh god, oh god. Kurt, don’t- come on, say something, please. Tell me again. Tell me you’ll stay.”

Did he say that out loud? He can’t remember.

But that voice – it’s the voice from inside his head.

Kurt knows that voice. He loves that voice.

He doesn’t love that the voice is in distress. Dejected. Desperate. In fact, he hates it.

The light is still there but the voice is still pleading with him and it’s loud and clear and Kurt wants it more than the light.

He turns away from the brightness, looks back down to his feet and – it’s dark.

_I’ll stay_ , Kurt thinks.

The darkness engulfs him, takes him with force, but he’s back down on the ground.

No floating, no light, no silence.

It feels cold but it also feels right, somehow.

“Blaine?” he manages, his tongue heavy. Did he say that right? It feels like it’s been years since he last spoke.

“Kurt! Kurt, yeah, it’s me! It’s Blaine. God, I thought-”

Good choice. Hearing this voice is nicer than the light.

“The light’s gone,” Kurt mumbles. “It’s dark.”

“What?”

“There was a light.”

“Fuck.” Blaine breathing is way off, and it worries Kurt. “Fuck, I-”

“You okay?” Kurt asks. His voice is coming back a little now. “You don’t sound-”

“Am _I_ okay?” Blaine sobs his way through a laugh. “ _Kurt_.”

Suddenly, Kurt wants to cry. Blaine is here. But Blaine is _not_ here. There’s metal separating them.

“Can you get me out of here?” he asks in a small voice. With the light gone, he’s scared again. “I want to get out of here.”

“I- I don’t know how-”

“Pickaxe. Finn had a pickaxe.”

“Finn? Where’s-”

“There,” Finn mumbles. “But it- it doesn’t _work_ , and it’s too loud-”

“Is that why Quinn was here?” Blaine asks.

“Quinn?” Kurt asks numbly. How long was he out this time? He didn’t know Quinn was here.

“Yeah, she was sent to see where the noise came from.” Finn gulps audibly. “Do you think she’s- did I-”

“You knocked her out pretty hard but she’s gonna be fine,” Blaine mumbles, a small clonk giving away how he’s picking up the tool next to the cage. “We’re gonna have to risk it. They will come to check up on Quinn anyway, right?”

There’s a loud sound of the tool clashing against the metal, and Kurt winces like he’s never heard it before.

God, it was so quiet and peaceful… but he promised he’d stay. And he intends on keeping that promise so he takes a deep breath and blocks his ears a little bit so the next time won’t be as loud.

“Blaine,” Finn says tiredly. “I tried doing that over and over again. The lock doesn’t budge. Look, it doesn’t even have a scratch.”

“What am I supposed to do, just leave him in here? Over my dead body.”

Kurt turns his head towards Blaine’s voice, eyes wide. He can’t form words in his shock but he knows one thing: He’d rather die on the spot than have Blaine die _for_ him.

“I know,” Finn huffs out. “But maybe there’s another way…”

“Until we find one, I’m going to keep trying.”

Thump, thump, thump. Kurt flinches. It’s different now.

Every time the pickaxe comes shuttering down onto the lock of the cage, it feels like Blaine is ringing a bell for everyone to hear: _Here we are, come find us. Come kill us._

“Blaine,” he grits out. “Stop.”

Blaine stills, or at least that’s what Kurt thinks he’s doing, because the noises stop immediately.

“Everything okay in there?”

“You’re going to lead them here.”

“I don’t care.”

Kurt sighs. “But you should.”

“No,” Blaine says stubbornly, like he knows exactly what Kurt is going to say. Maybe he does.

“I’m stuck in here. You’re not prepared to fight against an alien army on your own. Finn can’t morph. The others are god knows where.” He pauses, gulps, then pushes on. “Get out of here and take Finn with you.”

“Don’t be stupid, I won’t-”

“Yes, you will,” Kurt says with as much authority as possible. “I’m not going to let you do this.”

“You can’t force me to leave you,” Blaine shoots back, voice cracking. “Kurt, I told you at the very beginning that I wasn’t going to let you fight evil on your own. That hasn’t changed.”

“Blaine, _please_ , don’t-”

“Someone’s coming,” Finn whispers suddenly. “We need to hide.”

Oh god, it’s too late.

Kurt shuts his eyes in desperation. No matter what kind of promise Blaine made Kurt or himself, Kurt made a similar one to himself – that he wouldn’t let Blaine get hurt. And now he is trapped and won’t get to keep up his part of the deal.

He’s just about to try one last time to morph into Pavarotti and squeeze through the tiny opening at the ceiling of his cage when Blaine lets out a semi-relieved sigh.

“Ugh, it’s you,” he says, followed by a muffled cry.

“What’s going on?” Kurt whispers frantically. Who is out there? Who silenced Blaine?

“Let him go,” a voice says. “I’m on your side, Finn.”

Kurt needs a second to recognize it, then-

“Rachel,” he says, a little louder than planned.

“Kurt, you’re okay!” she cries out right next to his cage, her excited voice incredibly loud to Kurt’s ears. “Thank god!”

Blaine makes a coughing sound. “Finn, let me go already,” he says, sounding a little rugged.

“Rachel…” Finn says, voice hopeful. “You’re… you’re on our side?”

There’s a “yes” coming from close to Kurt’s cage and a “no” from a little further away.

“What?” Finn asks, confused.

“She’s not a Yeerk but she’s definitely not on our side, either,” Blaine says icily.

“What’s going on?” Kurt asks once more. He feels tired again. His pain comes and goes in waves and after convincing Blaine to leave him behind, his energy seems to have been all used up.

He hears Rachel scoff.

“You shouldn’t refuse my help, Blaine,” she says haughtily. “I assume the next patrol will be here soon and if you plan on continuing to make noise like a bunch of cavemen, you will lead them right here.”

“See if I care,” Blaine hisses. “I’ll just-”

“Morph into a hedgehog and hope they step on you to get a little hurt? Good luck.”

“Blaine has a bear morph, too,” Finn fills her in.

“Still not as powerful as mine.” There’s a smile in Rachel’s voice all of a sudden. “Or Kurt’s.”

Kurt squints in the darkness as if it’s going to help him see her point.

What is she talking about? His tiger? How would she even know about that? Who _is_ she?

“You can morph…?” Finn asks, obviously surprised. At least someone’s speaking for Kurt.

“Yeah, I-” she starts but then shushes everyone. “Do you hear that?”

Kurt thinks he does. It sounds like-

“Footsteps!” Blaine’s whispery voice comes closer. “Kurt, I’ll try to-”

“Blaine, no!” Rachel says urgently. “You need to fight, I’ll get Kurt out of here.”

Kurt almost laughs. She’d be the third person to try and fail to do just that.

“Why don’t you fight them yourself?” Blaine asks coolly. “You were just bragging about how powerful you are.”

“Guys…” Finn tries to intervene.

“I can’t, I need to stay human for this,” Rachel whispers. “Trust me, Blaine.”

Kurt listens carefully for any sort of reaction from Blaine as well as the nearing footsteps. He gathers from the context of the conversation that there is some sort of issue revolving around Rachel that somehow connects her to Kurt as well, even though he has not talked to Rachel in weeks and doesn’t really know what’s going on.

“Do it,” Kurt finds himself saying.

He doesn’t want Blaine to fight alone. But if he has a chance of getting out of here, a chance of joining the fight himself to help Blaine, he’ll take that option over anything else.

His request was vague, but Blaine seems to understand what Kurt is asking of him.

“Kurt, you don’t know-” he starts but then Finn makes a panicked noise and Blaine breaks off.

“Go, Blaine, fight them!” Rachel tells him, sounding even surer of herself now. “I promise that I know what I’m doing. I’ll come help as soon as I can.”

The next thing Kurt hears is the bear’s familiar growl. He quickly crosses his fingers in the darkness. _Let him be okay_ , he thinks, then wills himself to focus on Rachel again.

“Kurt,” he hears Rachel whisper. “I know this whole being half-and-half is new to you. I don’t have time to explain now but it’s not new to _me_. Let’s just say: I’m like you, but more experienced.”

Kurt’s eyes widen. Like him? Half and half?

“You’re half-Andalite,” he says inanely, trying to process the information in his head. From outside the cage, he hears Finn gasp.

“Andalite Am- um, yes. Listen. We can do more than just morph into animals.” What is she talking about? The animal controlling? Before he can ask, Rachel continues, “Kurt, we’ve got both sides in us and can morph between both entities.”

Sides, entities, what-

“That’s what Coach Beiste told me Kurt needed to do!” Finn exclaims. “But what does it mean?”

Rachel sounds smug when she explains, “It means Kurt can morph into his Andalite form.”

It seems like her words echo in Kurt’s head in slow-motion.

While it seems so logical, it has never even crossed his mind. His dad said he was born human, conceived in Elizabeth’s human form. Maybe Rachel got it wrong…?

But before he can voice his concerns, Rachel is speaking again. “I didn’t believe it at first, either,” she says. Maybe she can read minds, too, which honestly wouldn’t even be that surprising anymore. “When it finally sank in, I spent days training to finally manage to do it. But it _is_ possible.”

There’s a loud cracking noise outside of the cage, followed by another growl from Blaine. Finn winces and comments, “Ouch, that looked like it hurt.”

Kurt forces himself to breathe deeply. He can’t help but say, though, “Great info, filing it away for later, but I need to get out of this cage right now.”

“That _is_ your way out of the cage,” Rachel answers immediately. “Let me explain it-”

“Rachel, do we really have time for that?” Kurt interrupts her. “It sounds like Blaine isn’t handling himself all that well.”

There’s a brief pause, another crash that sounds like someone’s taking half the cave apart, and a little cheer from Finn.

Rachel laughs despite the situation. “He’s holding up well, don’t worry.”

“Couldn’t you at least go help him and explain this via thought-speak?”

“No, I can’t. I have a… somewhat… defective morph.” Rachel seems ashamed to admit it, speaking reluctantly. “I’m not good enough at thought-speech to talk to anyone but Shel- well, Coach Beiste. There, I said it.” She takes a shallow breath. “Let’s get you out of here now.”

Kurt wants to say something but he doesn’t know what. He doesn’t know her condition, doesn’t know nearly enough about morphing to actually have a reflected opinion on the topic, and most importantly, they don’t have the time to discuss this.

“You were about to explain the morph,” he reminds her instead.

“Yes,” she says immediately, back in business mode. “There’s morphing into something that you’re usually not – like an animal, or even a human for someone who’s fully Andalite – but there’s also morphing between _entities_ , something that you _are_. And you are both human _and_ Andalite, so both forms should be accessible to you.”

“How does it help with the cage?” Kurt asks quickly when he hears Blaine howl outside.

“Morphing between entities takes and releases a lot of energy,” Rachel explains quickly. “Usually, you wouldn’t notice it all that much but right now, you are trapped in a cage that is way too small for your Andalite body. The energy you’ll release will make the cage burst.”

Kurt presses his hands into the sturdy metal walls beside him.

“You’re sure that’s going to work?” he asks skeptically.

“The first time I did it, I blew up my dad’s car,” Rachel tells him. “That was a mess to explain to the insurance company, let me tell you.”

Kurt imagines pushing energy through his hands into the metal. It doesn’t budge, of course, but would it if he morphed…?

“It has to be the Andalite morph?”

“Yes, nothing else is strong enough.”

“You said it took you days to manage it,” Kurt says.

“It is a hard one,” she relents. “But… I’m a slow learner. I’m sure you can do it in less time than that.”

She doesn’t sound very convincing, and Kurt leans his head back against the wall.

What if he can’t do it?

From outside the cage, he hears more fighting sounds.

“Stop struggling, you filthy monster!” someone screeches – Lauren Zizes. Even though Kurt can’t see it, he knows the next move is hers. He’s seen her wrestle before. When she gets backed into a corner, she launches a power attack – it’s always accompanied by screaming and-

Another loud crash. Blaine’s bear lets out a weak sound.

“Blaine!” Kurt can’t help but exclaim.

_< I’m okay,>_ comes the quick reply. _< Don’t worry about me.>_

His words have the opposite effect. And, of course, Blaine knows.

_< Really, Kurt, I’m fine.>_

To Kurt, it sounds like _please hurry_.

He turns back to Rachel. “Teach me.”

She starts talking again, explains that he needs to “connect” to the Andalite inside him, and he tries and tries and tries – but he doesn’t get it immediately, no matter how much she urges him.

It doesn’t help that he can hear Blaine’s counter-attacks getting weaker by the minute. He doesn’t sound fine _at all_ , even though Finn tells Kurt after a while that Blaine managed to take out two of them and Finn knocked another one unconscious with the wooden handle of the pickaxe.

“Come on, Kurt,” Rachel says. “You can do it, I know you can. Uhm, you… you sort of let it go through your hands and feet… if that makes sense.”

It does make sense when it comes to the usual morph process, Kurt thinks. It’s exactly what happened the first time he morphed into Pavarotti. He had tried to imagine becoming the bird step by step, and had let his fingers and toes tense up until it felt like all of his focus had shifted to just them. And then, just like he had imagined it, _step by step_ , he had copied the bird.

But it was just that – a copy.

Kurt isn’t copying anything. He will try to morph into himself, sort of. His _other_ self. His alien self.

Kurt concentrates, tries to picture Starchild. Will Kurt look like him…? It’s weird, Kurt can’t picture it at first. Maybe that’s it. Maybe he’s just not accepting this side of himself.

_It’s okay_ , he thinks. _You can be half-alien. You’re still amazing._

That last part is what Blaine said moments before Kurt first kissed him. Kurt tries to think of that. Maybe this is like in Harry Potter – like he’s trying to conjure a Patronus. Maybe a happy memory will do the trick.

It doesn’t.

Kurt makes a frustrated noise inside his cage.

“Don’t give up,” Finn says, plainly pleading with Kurt by this point. His voice is breathy from running around trying to help Blaine, and from what Kurt’s gathering, it’s not going too well.

“Rachel,” Kurt pants. “I can’t connect to it, I just can’t.”

“What have you pictured so far?” she says, patiently in a way that is very atypical of Rachel Berry. Kurt figures it’s her way of panicking.

“A faceless blue alien. My mom. Starchild. Morphing into Pavarotti. Me kissing Blaine.”

“Kurt, focus!” she chastises him. “How is that last one even remotely relevant?”

“Happy memories,” he grits out. “I thought they might help.”

“Huh,” she says. “Not bad. I mean, not that one in particular, it doesn’t have anything to do with being Andalite – really, what were you thinking? – but… a specific memory might help. I think… yeah. Can you remember the feeling when you were told your mother was an Andalite?”

Anger, Kurt thinks immediately. Sadness, too, but anger won in that moment.

He was angry at his dad, angry at his mom for making his dad promise not to tell him, angry at that stupid cancer his mom’s body hadn’t been able to fight off, angry at the world not letting him deal with anything in peace.

And angry at himself that he learned the truth so late. Angry that he couldn’t talk to anyone about it, angry that he couldn’t save the bear in the zoo because he didn’t know of his powers, angry for losing control.

But… Blaine had said, maybe Kurt _needed_ to lose control. That he needed it to focus.

And suddenly it’s clear what he has to do.

He closes his eyes and remembers how his dad told him that Elizabeth was an Andalite. He remembers how it had felt like a betrayal of trust and loyalty. He remembers how he was so scared of being a monster at the zoo, remembers how he wanted to tear every inch of that bear apart for giving him that wound that almost cost him his life – both at the zoo and right now.

All it needs is another growl from Blaine outside – that same bear – and Kurt feels his hands trembling with sudden power.

“Kurt, you’re doing it!” Rachel whispers excitedly. “The cage is shaking!”

Indeed, he feels everything inside the cage vibrate – it’s his doing. He’s making this happen.

And what’s more, looking down on his torso, Kurt notices he’s glowing bright blue.

“Whoa,” he whispers to himself.

He vaguely registers that the noises have stopped outside the cage. For a split second, he panics, thinks something bad has happened, but then the light he’s creating with his alien body actually manages to shine _through_ the metal and, all of a sudden, he can _see_ – he sees Rachel, eyes shining with pride, he sees Finn, mouth hanging open in wonder, and he sees Blaine.

Blaine is in the middle of morphing back into his human form, standing between about six unconscious bodies, looking tall and fierce with his paws still in bear form, and it’s ridiculous how Kurt’s heart does some happy flips inside his body. It is _so_ not the time for that.

A second later, he realizes he really needs to pay attention to his transformation because he is growing rapidly and the confines of the cage will not hold him much longer. He can feel the metal cracking under his fingers.

Rachel was right – morphing into his Andalite form takes an incredible amount of energy. But thankfully, he’s still got the presence of mind to send out a message when the cage is about to burst.

_< Guys… duck.>_

It is as if the blue light he’s bathed in explodes around him all of a sudden, he feels something giving in all around him – the metal cage, it’s gone – and then, he’s _free_.

“Oh my god,” Finn breathes out.

Kurt tries to shoot her a grin before he remembers that Andalites don’t have mouths. Weird. He looks down at himself. He’s got six limbs now, four of which he’s standing on. He flexes the other two, holding his arms up above his head to examine them. They seem almost human, just like the rest of his torso. His fingers reach the tips of his pointy ears, and his… _second pair of eyes?_ They shoot out of his head on two big stalks and Kurt almost unsure of whether they are working right when they suddenly zoom in on his hands and he can see the blood rushing through his fingertips.

When his fingers slowly retract from his close-up vision, Blaine comes into focus, as if Kurt’s eyes had a will of their own.

Kurt notices three things at the same time.

One, Blaine does not seem to be badly hurt apart from a few scratches Kurt scans over quickly just to be sure. He just fought half a dozen aliens and he’s _fine_.

Two, Blaine somehow manages to look delighted and broken at the same time. He’s making his signature heart eyes at Kurt but Kurt’s new close-up vision detects moisture gathering in their corners.

Three, Kurt can’t physically stand to be apart from Blaine for a second longer.

Rushing – or rather, galloping – towards Blaine, he takes him in his arms immediately and breathes in his scent.

He wants to say something – _god, you’re brave, I’m so in love with you, I missed you_ – but the words get stuck in his throat and Blaine beats him to the punch anyway.

“I was so scared I’d lose you,” Blaine says, hot tears spilling from his eyes as he looks up at Kurt. “You were almost gone.” He pauses, then smiles through his tears. “And then you told me you’d stay.”

_< I really didn’t realize I said that out loud.>_

Blaine shakes his head. “You didn’t. You were in my head.”

_< But I wasn’t morphed,> _Kurt says. He was sure he had hallucinated in that moment.

“I know, I know.” Blaine steps out of their embrace and slowly blinks a few times, looking like he’s trying to process his thoughts. “I think your body knew way before you what you’d be capable of doing. Or…” He snaps his fingers and looks up triumphantly. “Maybe you’re _always_ morphed! I mean, you’re half-half, right?”

Kurt considers it for a moment. _< Yeah, maybe that’s it,>_ he finally says. Then he has to laugh despite himself. _< It’s real, Blaine. I’m a fucking alien.>_

Blaine hangs his head in silent laughter. When he looks back up, his smile is teasing.

“What will I tell my parents?!” he quips. “Introducing my boyfriend is one thing but telling them he has glowing skin? Scary…”

Kurt can only blame his recent transition for how slowly the words register in his brain.

When they do, all he says is, _< Oh.>_

“I hope I’m not out of line with this.” Blaine meets his eyes with a coy look on his face. “I mean, you did almost ask me- and that’s what you wanted to ask, right? Otherwise I’m probably making a total ass of myself right now. But, uh, yeah, if you’d like… I mean, I would love it… if we agreed to, you know…” He bites his lip. “Being boyfriends.”

And just like that, Kurt’s heart feels like it’s about to explode.

He’s in the middle of a goddamn cave, pitch-black darkness still making him somewhat claustrophobic after what he just endured, and there are several unconscious bodies on the floor, but Blaine’s words are making him feel light, like he could start walking on clouds right about now.

_< Blaine…>_ he says again, inanely, blinking slowly.

There he was a few hours ago, trying to ask Blaine the same thing, and when Blaine is bold enough to ask _him_ , he blanks. Figures.

“Say something?” Blaine prompts softly after a beat of silence.

Kurt tilts his head, takes a deep breath through his nostrils, and lets his instincts take over.

_< On one condition,>_ he finally says.

Blaine looks confused. “What?”

_< Don’t tell your parents that my skin glows,>_ Kurt says, winking at Blaine. _< I don’t want them to think your boyfriend escaped straight out of Twilight.>_

“Oh my god,” Blaine breathes out, rolling his eyes but his smile stretching impossibly wide across his face. “Kurt. You’re…” He shakes his head with a teary laugh. “I’m _crazy_ about you, you know that?”

Kurt is suddenly very, very done with talking and lunges forward to take Blaine in his arms and kiss him. He’s almost there when Blaine holds out a hand to stop him with Kurt only an inch from his face.

“Uhm, Kurt?” he asks, looking slightly embarrassed. “Not that I’m _not_ strangely into this new look of yours – because I really am – but, uh… there’s one slightly, uh, unfortunate detail missing from your face…”

Kurt frowns, then puts a hand to his own face, and suddenly bursts out giggling in thought.

It’s incredibly, terrifyingly awkward but Blaine’s grinning and his eyes are sparkling with mirth, and most importantly, he’s also _right_ – Kurt doesn’t have a mouth to kiss his boyfriend with properly.

_< Jesus- Okay, I’ll->_

He’s not even done saying it before he’s back in human form and he can’t actually finish the sentence because Blaine’s lips crash against his in a flash, and he couldn’t be more content to stay silent for the time being.

He loses himself so completely in their kiss that at first he thinks the startled noise Blaine lets out is in response to the way Kurt chases his mouth when they lose contact, but when he feels Blaine’s hands squeeze a little tighter around his waist and his eyes won’t come back up to meet Kurt’s, he breaks away and takes a look himself.

“What…?” he starts, not sure what Blaine is getting at, until it finally makes click. “Wait. Uhm…” Is he losing his mind? “I had, like, a pretty deadly wound a few minutes ago, didn’t I?”

“Wait, what happened?” Finn asks. When Kurt finally tears his gaze away from Blaine and looks to his right, he has to suppress a giggle – Finn has a hand in front of his eyes and peeking through his fingers. “Are they done making out yet?”

Rachel slaps his hand away gently.

“Yes, they stopped,” she confirms. “And Kurt’s healed.” She takes a step closer to look at Kurt’s skin when he lifts his shirt a bit. “I didn’t know that would happen but… probably a side effect of our morph energy.”

Kurt breathes in and out slowly, moving his hips from side to side to test if it’s really gone. No pain. None at all. He shakes his head to himself, and exchanges a relieved look with Blaine. Then he turns to Rachel.

“Thank you,” he tells her, and she ducks her head with a smile.

“You’re welcome,” she says, then frowns. “No, actually, it was all you.” She takes a deep breath and looks up at him, eyes shining. “Kurt, I… Blaine, was right, though, I-” Her voice breaks. “I did something. My dads, they-”

Kurt blinks, startled, when she breaks down and cries.

If Rachel Berry feels so guilty she actually tells you on her own terms, she must have done something _bad_.

* * *

“Rachel, what the hell!” Finn exclaims as soon as Rachel stops talking. “How _could_ you?!”

Blaine puts a hand on Finn’s shoulder and waits until their eyes meet to signal that they should take care of the unconscious Yeerk vessels – there is no guarantee that they won’t wake up any second, and Blaine isn’t particularly keen on doing a repeat performance.

But, more importantly, this is something that needs to be solved between Kurt and Rachel. Blaine is still mad at her, of course, but whatever happens now is up to Kurt.

At first, Kurt doesn’t say anything, and Finn and Blaine start carrying out two bodies in silence. Just as they turn the corner in the small tunnel, though, Blaine hears him speaks in a quietly dangerous voice.

“You almost had my family killed.”

“Kurt, I-”

“I let you finish listing all of the ways in which you screwed me over,” Kurt interrupts. “The least thing you could do is return the favor and listen to _me_ now.”

Rachel seems to quiet down immediately because there is another beat of silence before Kurt continues to speak in that venomous tone of his. As Finn and Blaine head down the pathway, his voice fades and they are left with increasing silence.

They both walk at a quick pace, not wanting to lose too much time. Thankfully, Blaine is carrying Becky, who is a lot lighter to carry than that hockey guy Finn lifted onto his back. He seems to be doing fine, though, apart from the deep crease between his eyebrows.

“Did you know all that?” Finn asks suddenly. “About Rachel?”

“Not all of it.” Blaine sighs. “That part about her only knowing how to speak to Sheldon in morph? I had no clue.” He remembers how embarrassed she looked when Santana called her out on not telling them they were being rescued before the ambush. She didn’t because she _couldn’t_. Blaine turns another corner, peeking around it carefully first. “The rest I knew.”

“She could have killed us all,” Finn mumbles, voice breaking. “What was she thinking?”

Blaine stops briefly to take a look at Finn. He knows Finn and Rachel have… history, to say the least. How would he react if he learned something this big about Kurt?

“She probably wasn’t thinking much at the time,” Blaine says softly. “I guess she was trying to be there for her dads.”

“By sacrificing my family…” Finn frowns. “I wouldn’t do that to her.”

“Look, I’m not saying she’s a saint,” Blaine says, surprising himself with his words a little, “but can any of us ever really know what we would do in a situation like hers?”

He tries to imagine it. Not knowing where his parents are, being scared that they might be dead already. Hell, she _still_ hasn’t gotten her dads back. That must be tough.

“She didn’t even know at the time we were trying to attack the Yeerks,” Blaine continues. “She was on our side the second she knew.”

Finn exhales audibly. Blaine turns to look at him again but his eyes catch on something grey and slimy in the dark all of a sudden.

“I guess…” Finn says. “Well, I-”

“Watch out!” Blaine exclaims and grabs Finn’s arm before Finn can walk right into the Yeerk that’s hanging of the ceiling.

Finn stops in his tracks, his face just an inch apart from the slug. Then he screams, high and shrill, a sound that Blaine would have never even guessed was even in Finn’s vocal range.

“Get it away from me!” Finn shrieks when he has taken a few steps back in horror, trying to cover his ears without letting the body his carrying fall off his back.

_< Piece of advice?>_ Santana drawls all of a sudden, her rhino appearing in the hallway a few feet ahead of them. _< Don’t fucking scream like a damsel in distress when there’s a shitload of brain-hungry aliens around. They hear you, they’ll turn you into a zombie douche all over again, capiche?> _She sighs. _ <Brittany, could you get that for me?>_

Brittany, who has been sitting on Santana’s back, climbs up to her horn and jumps up to the tunnel ceiling. As she extends her paw to smack the Yeerk and make it land in front of Santana’s feet, she sing-songs, _< A wild Grimer appears! Fight!>_

A few seconds later, the Yeerk is history, and Santana shakes her right front leg a little to get the slime off her foot.

_< So, where’s Kurt?>_ Brittany asks, and in that exact same moment two blurs of blue emerge from around the corner.

_< Finn, Blaine, are you okay?>_ Kurt asks.

As they both assure him that they’re fine and Rachel hugs them both briefly because she can’t talk in her morph, Santana morphs back and lets out a whistle as soon as she’s human again.

“Kurt, look at you, all blue and shit,” she says with a proud smile.

Kurt snorts. _< Yeah… I went full alien back there. Well, half-alien.>_

Of course Rachel protests the last word by stomping on the ground. When Kurt huffs through his nostrils, Rachel jumps a little and throws him a scared look. Kurt stares her down. Blaine swears he even sees his stalk eyes twitch.

“Oh, shut it, E.T. fraction,” Santana says eventually. “We’re actually not here to chit-chat. We need help down at the main cave. The others are still there, hiding out. They’re planning our attack but if we go in there without all of you to help, we’ll be outnumbered.”

_< So we’re attacking today?>_ Kurt asks. _< No more recon missions?>_

“We can’t go back.” Santana shrugs nonchalantly. Blaine sees her frown, though. She’s worried. “There’s at least 200 of them down here and then some more on the school grounds above as well. The ones we already knocked unconscious up in Mr Schue’s office will wake up eventually, get someone to get them out of the choir room, and tell them what we look like. We won’t be safe anymore. Better end this today.”

Blaine looks around. Most of them look like Santana – a bit scared, yet willing to fight.

Yes, maybe their chances are slim. But they have trained. They have already survived a few attacks. Kurt is healed and more powerful than ever. They have the Andalite guardian with them and another Andalite that they didn’t even know existed.

For the first time, Blaine really feels like they’ve got this.

“Let’s do it then,” he says. He smiles at the others. “I don’t know about you but I’m feeling pretty confident.”

* * *

They go back to get more of the knocked out controller bodies before they head down to the main cave, each of them carrying one or two bodies.

Santana and Brittany lead the way with some occasional help from Finn, who apparently left some hints for himself at each tunnel intersection by stacking up some small rocks to a little tower. Kurt makes sure to send him another thank you via thought-speak. Without Finn, how long would it have taken the others to find him?

_< Hey.>_ The voice comes from Blaine somewhere up front in his bear morph, and Kurt’s a little startled to get a message from him right now, but the tone of Blaine’s voice is warm and gentle, so it can’t be about any dangers up ahead. _< Just checking in… how did it go with Rachel?>_

Kurt exhales through his nostrils, sparing the person in question a look – she’s ahead of him, too, carrying Lauren Zizes on her Andalite back. He almost hopes that Lauren wakes up to knock some sense into that self-involved little-

_< I didn’t kill her, so that’s a plus, I guess,>_ Kurt says grouchily, trying to shake any remaining nasty thoughts out of his head. _< She’s never going try anything like that ever again. And she knows she’s going to be Yeerk fodder if she does.> _A little gentler, he adds, _< Thanks for asking.>_

_< Of course.> _Up ahead, Kurt sees Blaine turn his head a little as if he’s trying to look back to Kurt. Of course, his current anatomy makes that difficult, so he gives up. _< Maybe I can take your mind off things once this is all over?>_

_< How?>_ Kurt asks, intrigued.

There is only a small pause before Blaine replies with a question. _< Let me take you out on a date?>_

Kurt wonders if Andalites blush and if so, what color, because it does feel like his cheeks are warming up in the most pleasant way.

_< Yes,>_ he says happily. _< Yes.>_

Blaine cheers a little. _< It’s a date, then?>_

_< It’s a date.>_

Finn interrupts their talk to announce that they’re close, and Santana and Brittany point to another small tunnel on the right side that apparently leads to their little hide-out. A few moments later, they are greeted by the rest of their group.

_< Hello, Kurt,>_ an unfamiliar voice greets him when Finn starts filling the others in about what happened in the tunnels and how they got Kurt out. Kurt’s stalk eyes turn to his left and he sees another Andalite walking towards him. _< You know me as Coach Beiste but let me introduce myself anew. I’m Sheldon, the Andalite guardian of Lima.>_

Kurt feels like curtsying – it sounds so formal.

_< Hello,>_ he says awkwardly. _< Uh… nice to meet you.>_

_< You’re not my kin,>_ Sheldon says, _< but I knew your mother and always looked up to her, so I hope we can get to know each other better in the future. I’m training Rachel to one day be a guardian herself, I have high hopes that you might follow in that path as well.>_

Wait, what now? This guy really cuts right down to the chase.

Kurt blinks a few times before stuttering, _< I, uh… I haven’t given it much thought, to be honest.>_

Sheldon laughs. _< Of course not, you’ve only known for a few days. I’m sorry for springing that on you. I just meant it would be nice. We’ll talk about it when we have time.>_

As if he knew that someone was about to speak, a second later Tina announces their big fight plan that she worked on with Sam and Sheldon while the others were gone. With a few rocks lying on the ground, she shows them what to expect in the cave in a little map she created with what she knew from Sheldon’s experience.

There is the Kandrona pool that Jacob captured on his video camera – it is situated in the middle of the cave, adjacent to the numerous cages where they keep the potential vessels. At the far left corner of the cave that Sam points out on the rock map, there is a jetty where the controlled humans drop their Yeerk occupier in the pool when they need to charge.

“What’s that big thing over there?” Blaine asks, pointing to a spot in the very back of the cave, behind the pool, where Tina and Sam piled up some rocks.

“Some kind of tower,” Finn answers, to everyone’s surprise. “It looks massive. Probably their headquarters?”

_< That’s exactly right,>_ Sheldon says. _< It’s where we’re most likely to find Visser Two. Will Schuester, as you all know by now, is his host body, so watch out for him.>_

It is opposite of the entrance to the cave so Kurt figures he’ll need to fight his way through some Yeerks or sneak around them to get there. He already knows which part he’s signing up for when they distribute tasks.

Visser Two is his.

* * *

Blaine has never been in battle before but he always imagined his role in it to be a bit different.

In his childhood dreams he was a Jedi – heroic, right at the very forefront of every event, fighting alongside his galactic friends.

He sighs to himself and flies a little higher to have everyone in his direct field of vision.

At least watch duty lets him keep an eye on Kurt. It’s his second best option after going to the tower alongside him. But Sheldon announced that the Andalites were going to look for Visser Two, so Blaine was out.

He flies closer to the side right-hand side of the cave where Finn is rummaging through barrels of water and food that are probably for the humans. It’s also where he found the pickaxe so they’re hoping Finn might find some other helpful stuff.

Next he checks on the left side where Sam has just morphed into a monkey and starts following the controller who’s in charge of the cages – Artie – by discreetly hopping from cage to cage. Just when Artie’s about open a cage to subject another human to Yeerk control, Sam reaches out quickly and makes off with the keys, resulting in a bit of a hassle as Artie yells and rolls after him, rallying a lot of other Yeerks in the process.

Tina, Santana and Brittany are there to take most of the hits, though – Brittany jumps in front of controllers to make them trip, Santana knocks everyone out in her path and Tina rolls unconscious people into the cages that Sam unlocks with his newly acquired keys.

_< Great job, guys!>_ Blaine cheers. Time to check up on the Andalite team. He saw them go in a few minutes ago. _< How are things at the tower?>_

_< Uneventful so far,>_ Kurt answers immediately _. <We knocked out a guard but other than that, there’s just a lot of steps. Rachel is going to check upstairs, Sheldon and I are going downstairs. There’s a cellar of some kind, I think.>_

_< Tell me as soon as something happens,>_ Blaine sends through.

_< I will.>_

He goes back to Finn after that, helping him check out different corners of the cave from above. They’re pretty unsuccessful until they finally find some rope that might be helpful to capture more controllers. Blaine heads down and morphs from the bat straight into the dog to take the rope from Finn.

_< Keep looking,>_ he tells Finn before he sprints off to finally partake in some ground action.

It takes him at least three minutes to get to the other side. Some controllers notice him but he’s faster and evades them easily. By the time he reaches the cages, the tables have turned on this side of the cave – Sam is still hopping from cage to cage, though this time to escape some controllers who are trying to get his keys, Santana is snatching Brittany away from a group of three controllers, and Tina is nowhere to be seen.

_< Guys, where is Tina?>_ he asks, rope secure between his teeth even when a controller tries to take it from him. _< What happened here?>_

_< After we freed some of the non-controlled humans, a Yeerk got a hold of them, dunked them all in the pool and they came out as an army twice as big as before,>_ Sam pants, racing past Blaine to get away from two controllers. Blaine does what Brittany did before and jumps in their way to make them fall. _< Thanks, man.>_

Santana is taking off with Brittany now and knocks out some more people in Blaine’s vicinity.

_< Yeah, and Tina decided to take a bath as well,> _Brittany comments in passing.

Blaine whips his head around, makes a leap towards Sam and leaves the rope with him as he’s not cornered anymore. Then he morphs back into the bat and flies towards the pool.

_< Was she human when she…?>_ he asks, panicked, not daring to finish his question. What if the Yeerks got a hold of Tina?

As soon as there’s enough distance between him and the pool, though, he sees a big shape swimming through it and lets relief wash over him.

_< Just a small change of plans,>_ Tina answers and sticks her alligator head out of the pool for a second to spit out some Yeerk parts. Apparently, she’s killing all the charging Yeerks by biting down on them. _< A very icky change of plans.>_

_< Effective, though,> _Blaine sends back, watching as she cleans the pool section by section. _ <Keep it up, I’ll help the others.>_

He morphs back to human quickly as he hits the ground so that his two-hour time slot will restart. Then he stretches his limbs a bit and starts morphing again.

Time for the bear and some real battle feeling.

* * *

_< Rachel says upstairs is empty now,>_ Sheldon reports as Kurt peers around the corner at the bottom of the staircase. _< She knocked out a few guards and she’s bring them outside so the others can lock them up.>_

_< Good,>_ Kurt says. _< That means nobody has warned anyone downstairs of what’s happening outside, right?>_

Sheldon nods.

Reassured, Kurt lets out the breath he’s been holding through his nostrils. Then he turns to Sheldon and says, _< The coast seems to be clear here, too.>_

_< Wait.>_ Sheldon grabs him by the arm. _< The way might be booby-trapped.>_

He picks up a rock from the ground and raises it above his head to throw it through the hallway. Immediately, several nets fall from the ceiling and fall to the ground.

_< Nets?>_ Kurt wonders. _< Doesn’t seem all that vicious.>_

_< They’re still recruiting, remember? Why not subject all the trespassers to their control?>_

Sheldon throws another rock just to be sure but the way seems to be safe now.

As they pass it, Kurt looks around, making sure they’re alone until he suddenly registers a hole in the wall. He could swear that he caught some movement but it’s too dark to see clearly. His stalk eyes zoom in on the hole and suddenly he sees-

_< Sheldon,>_ he says. _< Sheldon, look.>_

A pair of eyes, staring at him.

_< Hiram,>_ Sheldon says.

_< Rachel’s dad? We need to->_

_< Kurt, get out of the way!>_

Kurt does as he’s told but he’s not fast enough.

First, he hears the gunshot. Then he feels something pierce his lower back as he tries to jump to the side and his Andalite legs buckle with the pain.

Next to him, Sheldon falls to the ground as well.

* * *

Blaine’s knocking out controller after controller but they seem to just keep coming.

_< Guys, we’ve used all of the rope,> _Sam says. <There’s not a lot of cages left, either.>

_< We’ll deal with that when they’re full,>_ Blaine grits out. _< Keep->_

Something knocks against him full force and topples him over. He almost lands in the pool. When he turns to see what hit him, Azimio and Karofsky are suddenly all up in his face.

Blaine growls and pushes them off but as he does, he realizes what this means.

_< They got out of the choir room_!> he sends out to everyone. He sees out of the corner of his eyes a horde of people running towards him. _< And they brought reinforcements!>_

He struggles to get up with Azimio and Karofsky both still shoving at him but he manages to throw them both in the pool and a few seconds later, Tina brings them back up, both unconscious.

_< Go, team,>_ she says. _< Their Yeerks came out immediately, what a perfect timing.>_

_< They did…? Wait.> _Blaine looks at Tina’s slime-covered alligator face. _< Do you think that’s, like, a thing?>_

_< Oh my god, Blaine, that’s genius!> _she says. _ <Maybe, oh- Watch out!>_

Blaine jumps aside immediately and watches as two other controllers run head first into the pool instead of pushing him in as originally planned.

Tina splashes around for a bit until they go over the side of the pool as well.

Her grin is audible when she says, _< Are you thinking what I’m thinking?>_

He’s just about to confirm her thoughts when another status update gets through from Kurt.

_< Found Rachel’s dads,> _Kurt says, sounding like it’s taking a lot of effort to send the message. _< They’re shooting at us. I’m->_

The message ends there.

* * *

Kurt realizes mid-sentence that he can morph and heal. While he does, he looks around and counts. Four people, all of them armed. Two of them are Hiram and Leroy. Figures they wouldn’t just be captured.

By the time he’s human, fire is reopened and he morphs back quickly. Will he have to keep doing this every time until they’re out of bullets?

He takes one step forward while morphing. Maybe he can sneak himself closer to them and steal their guns.

As Kurt morphs back and forth to release the healing energy, he spares a look at Sheldon and notices he’s not getting up.

_< Sheldon,>_ he sends out via thought-speak while he still can. _< Come on, morph! H-> _He’s cut off when he’s morphed back. “Heal!” he hisses.

Sheldon groans in his head.

_< Can’t,>_ he pants. _< Not human, remember?>_

The realization hits Kurt like a bucket of cold ice and the second it makes him freeze, he’s hit by another bullet.

Morphing back to his Andalite form takes longer this time as his new wound drains more energy from his body.

_< Sheldon!>_ he cries out. _< Morph into _something _! Maybe it’ll help! >_

He’s healing again and he takes a lunge forward to the shooter that’s closest to him. The guy seems to expect an attack but instead, Kurt morphs back right next to him. The released energy strikes him so hard, he knocks against the wall and drops to the floor. Kurt quickly checks if he’s still breathing – he is – and morphs again before another shot can weaken him even more.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Sheldon get shot again. His head whips around and there’s-

_< Visser Two!>_ he bellows.

Mr Schue lifts his head, grinning at Kurt.

“Kurt Hummel,” he says. “What an interesting turn of events. Not as fragile as your mother was, are we, huh? Or your boss over here…”

He shoots Sheldon again.

* * *

When Blaine and Rachel finally reach the bottom of the staircase, the gunshots are loud and clear.

“Oh my god,” Rachel says, in her human form so she can talk to Blaine. She peers around the corner “One of the shooters is k.o. My dads are still going at it… don’t hurt them, okay? Just knock them out.”

“Of course,” Blaine promises. “Let’s go.”

Rachel morphs into the gecko next to him, and Blaine chooses the bat. She’s gone fast, and in a flash, she’s next to one of the shooters, morphs into human and then Andalite quickly, the energy sending the guy flying backwards until he lands right below Blaine. He’s still moving so Blaine morphs into the dog mid-flight and lands right on top of the guy. It hurts him a little but the important thing is that it worked – the guy’s knocked out for good.

Back to the bat, he targets Hiram this time, at the same time as Rachel approaches Leroy. He morphs into his human form this time since he’s heavier than the dog and Hiram is not weakened at all yet. He drops onto him full-force. They fall to the ground together, right next to Leroy who’s out too.

When Blaine lifts his head, he sees Mr Schue pointing his gun at Kurt.

* * *

“So, how long do you think you can play this game, Mr Hummel?” Visser Two asks sardonically. “Shoot, heal, shoot, heal… gets a bit boring, don’t you think?”

“As long as I get to take you down in the process,” Kurt grits out through his teeth, “I can go all day.”

“How about a bullet to the head, hm? Would that affect your ability to… transform?”

Kurt’s insides go rigid at the thought. He knows that it would probably kill him right away, but he bluffs coolly, “You underestimate my abilities.”

“Is that so?” Visser Two makes Mr Schue’s mouth stretch into an evil smile and tilts his head at Kurt. “Well, I think-”

“Just shoot me!” Kurt yells.

The evil smile gets even wider. “Nah,” he says calmly and directs the gun at something else behind Kurt.

Kurt barely needs to turn around to know that Blaine is being shot – but he turns anyway.

* * *

He is _so_ close – so close to fly over Mr Schue and repeat his move.

But then Mr Schue’s eyes flit from Kurt to him – just a millisecond, but he’s definitely seen Blaine.

“Nah,” Mr Schue says in reply to Kurt and points his gun at Blaine.

 “Blaine!” Kurt screeches at the same time as the gun fires.

Blaine’s got a split-second to fly away – and he tries – but he was _too_ close. Too close, yet not close enough.

But then-

It doesn’t hit him.

There’s someone morphing in front of him – taking the bullet for him.

Blaine looks up and sees blurs of blue skin and brown hair as the Andalite morphs to a human shape.

“Rachel,” he whispers, relieved, and then notices movement behind her. He flies forward, right past Rachel, and morphs mid-flight.

He doesn’t land right but at least he tackles Mr Schue to the ground before he can pull the trigger – he was aiming right at Kurt’s head.

He’s pushed off immediately, the movement making him a bit dizzy after just having flown so fast, but he manages to kick the gun away.

And then there’s a burst of energy behind him and suddenly Mr Schue is lifted off him.

* * *

Kurt has been standing still, transfixed, still somehow expecting Blaine to get shot even though it’s been almost a minute since then but when he shakes himself out of it, Blaine’s in a fist fight with Visser Two.

Better than a gun fight, granted, but still enough to make Kurt angry.

He shot Sheldon. He tried to shoot Blaine. Kurt growls.

He morphs, then lunges forward and makes a grab for Visser Two.

He presses him into the nearest wall, making him crash against him full-force with a loud crack. Visser Two winces and looks up at Kurt – and he’s met not with the cold gaze of an alien but a pair of familiar eyes, wide and pleading. It’s Mr Schue.

Part of Kurt demands more. It wants to smash his head in, rip his body to pieces and just plainly destroy him. He could let go so easily now, enough rage inside his body that he wouldn’t even notice what he’s doing until it’s over. He feels powerful, and bloodthirsty.

Oh, it would be so quick, and it would be simple.

“Kurt!” Rachel calls out. “Remember that it’s-”

Blaine shushes her, leaving it up to Kurt.

It pulses through Kurt’s brain – Blaine trusts him. A moment ago, Kurt wouldn’t have been so sure of his own strength of mind but, if Blaine trusts him, then-

_< You can do it, Kurt,>_ Sheldon tells him. It sounds like he’s smiling.

Kurt looks Visser Two right in the eye and shakes his head slowly.

He’s never really been one for the easy way out.

Slowly, keeping his grip on Visser Two firm, he morphs back to his human form, keeping his eyes on his opponent.

Visser Two starts to grin right away.

“You can’t do it,” he says smugly. “Can’t even-”

“Oh, shut up,” Kurt mumbles, and drops into that boxing position he learned from Blaine. “That’s for Sheldon.”

He hits Mr Schue right in the temple.

* * *

Blaine scrambles into an upright position and runs to Kurt.

“You okay?” he pants, throwing his arms around Kurt who’s still looking down at Mr Schue as if he’s expecting him to move.

“Peachy,” Kurt breathes out. “Was that a good hit?”

Blaine laughs breathlessly. “Yeah, I’m very proud of you.”

He doesn’t just mean the hit, and he knows that Kurt understands.

“Sheldon!” Rachel cries a few feet behind them, and both of them turn on the spot. Rachel is bent over Sheldon’s – now human – body. “Sheldon, please.”

Sheldon blinks his eyes open slowly.

“Rachel,” he says. “Rachel… when you see my sister, tell her I couldn’t have been more proud to train her talented daughter.”

“No!” Rachel’s eyes fill with tear. “No, we can carry you back- you can-” Her voice breaks. “We’ll be together. You said- you said we’ll be together in New York when I go to college and you retire. Remember? You’ll see Shelby and you can tell her yourself.” She sounds like she is convincing herself. A few tears slips down her cheeks as she nods stubbornly. “We’ll be together.”

“Together.” Sheldon smiles. “Yeah. You’ll always… be in my heart.”

“Sheldon,” Rachel whispers. “Morph. Maybe you can heal. Maybe-”

“No,” Sheldon says. “I’ve always said that-”

“‘You want to die a human,’” Rachel recites with a teary laugh. “I always thought you were joking.”

“But why would I?” Sheldon breathes in and out deeply. “To me, it’s an honor.”

Blaine can’t see much through the curtain of his tears but when he sees Rachel fall over and cover Sheldon’s face with her hair, he knows that he’s gone.

* * *

Kurt feels numb as they head out of the tower towards the entrance of the cave.

He’s only known Sheldon for a few hours and yet he felt so connected to him – he knew his mom, he was warm and welcoming, just like she was, and he had been part of Rachel’s family.

And Rachel – Rachel took a bullet for Blaine. He knows that they still have work to do, that he’ll have to thank her later. But… he takes her hand in his briefly as they run to meet their friends at the cages. She looks up at his face and smiles through her tears.

When they reach the cage area, they see Santana up ahead, sitting on one of the cages and inspecting her nails in fake boredom.

“Hello, lady and gays, and welcome to the first post-alien indoor cave pool.” She grins proudly. “Listen, we were so awesome back he-” She breaks off and takes a look at their teary faces. “Wait, where is Blue’s Clues?”

Next to Kurt, Rachel gulps and shakes her head.

“Oh…” Santana looks shocked for a second, collects herself quickly and jumps off the cage and takes Rachel in her arms. “That’s… I’m sorry.”

Eventually, they all hug each other and exchange stories of what happened in detail. Apparently, down at the pool, Tina instructed everyone to throw the Yeerks in the Kandrona substance and Blaine’s theory was confirmed: As soon as a controller was in the pool, the Yeerk thought it was charging time and left the host’s body.

Some of the people have already reawakened – without any memory of what’s happened, of course – and have been escorted upstairs by Sam.

“I know the way by heart now,” he says, looking tired. “And, wow, everybody was yelling at me so… uhm… I told them that they’ve been punked.” He grins. “I have a feeling the producers of that show are going to get some serious lawsuits now.”

After determining how many more people will need to be brought up to the school, they decide to get out the remaining bodies from the tower – of course, they spare Rachel from going in again. Brittany suggests tying all the cages together with the rope that they have to pull the other ones up in one go, which Rachel takes care of gladly – with her Andalite strength, her little caravan moves fast.

“What do we do about the pool?” Kurt finally asks. “There’s gotta still be Yeerks around in Lima, they couldn’t all have been down here today.”

Blaine nods, turning to the pool. “We should… dry it out or something. Or at least make sure that they won’t have access to it anymore. Like, never again, if possible.”

“Well,” Santana says. “I guess pushing Mr Schue’s desk back over the hole and hoping no one will ever find it again is probably not an option, right?”

Someone clears their throat behind them.

They all turn to see Finn return to the pool area from the resource corner.

“Uhm, I think I have an idea,” he says, holding up a bag and pulling out sticks of dynamite. “What if we use these?”

* * *

“Let me, let me, let me!” Sam begs Finn when they’re far enough up the tunnel.

“Oh my god, I swear to god,” Tina complains, “if you blow us up just after we stopped the apocalypse, I’m going to _kill_ you, Sam Evans.”

“Come on, I’m going to let it roll down this really long, straight, downward path until it goes up, it’ll be totally safe,” Sam grumbles. “You could have voted for someone else if you didn’t want me to do it.

“That was before you started acting like an excited five-year-old,” Tina berates him. Then she pushes through the group of people in her way. “Excuse me, I’m not going to witness this disaster. I’m going upstairs to find my ex-alien boyfriend. And goddammit, wait five more minutes so I’ll be far away.”

Blaine lifts both of his eyebrows as he extends his hand to Kurt in an offer to follow Tina. Kurt takes it right away and tangles their fingers as they walk up the rest of the tunnel in a hurried pace.

When they reach the ladder that leads up to Mr Schue’s office, they hear a far-away, dull bang. The ground underneath them shakes a bit and then it stills just as quickly.

“Well, I guess that’s it,” Blaine says, climbing up the ladder and reaching his hand out for Kurt to pull him up the rest of the way when he’s back up in Mr Schue’s office. “Back to school and all.”

Kurt laughs. “Normal life. Sounds weird, huh?”

“Yeah.” Blaine shakes his head in disbelief. “Do you think you’ll miss it?”

“Crazy alien-hunting life?”

Blaine nods. Deep down, he knows life will never really be normal again, for any of them. Not after what they witnessed, not after learning what they all were capable of. They’ll never truly be the same, always on the lookout, always aware of what might happen if they’re not careful enough.

But right now and right here, he’ll just pretend that everything’s over and done with.

And apparently, Kurt’s willing to play along.

“Nah.” Kurt smiles and shakes their joint hands a little bit as they walk out of the room into the hallway. “I was promised a post-apocalypse date with the cutest boy in town.”

Blaine huffs out a fond laugh and pulls Kurt closer to kiss him.

“Funny,” he says when they break apart. “I think I was promised the same thing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I warn you to watch out for all the cheesy moments? Well... oops. More of those to come in the epilogue! ;)
> 
> By the way, I would love to know how much this strayed from what you were expecting of this story? :D Regardless of whether you know Animorphs or not.
> 
> Have a lovely rest of the week! ♥


	9. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are at the end of this story. THANK YOU all from the bottom of my heart for reading, kudo'ing (I'm making that a thing), reviewing, reblogging and whatnot. You all rock. :)
> 
> Speaking of people who rock - a special thank you goes out to a-simple-rainbow who has been my beta half (go punny or go home) for this. You are the very best. ♥
> 
> So, without further ado, here comes the cheesy ending. ;)

“Penny for your thoughts?” Rachel asks him when she sits down next to him.

Kurt tears his gaze away from the green grass in front of him and looks up at her face. He’s sitting on the stairs of the front porch outside her dads’ house. He felt like getting away for a moment to breathe some fresh air.

He’s never been good with funerals.

It was a beautiful ceremony, though; the backyard was decorated all in blue at Rachel’s request, and Hiram and Leroy held a wonderful speech commemorating their friend. Then Shelby had sung a song in thought-speak and Rachel in her human voice – their voices were beautiful together, no instruments, only mourning melodies for their lost brother and uncle.

The song had felt familiar, and Kurt wasn’t sure why until Burt leaned over and said in a tight voice, “Your mother used to sing this song whenever she missed her kin.”

It made Kurt’s eyes prickle with tears, and it was the first time in days he thought about what Sheldon had offered him.

“Kurt?” Rachel looks at him worriedly. “What’s wrong?”

Kurt takes a deep breath. “Sheldon wanted me to become a guardian.”

“I know.” Rachel smiles. “He talked very highly about your mom, you know? I think she was his idol.”

“I’m not sure if it’s the right thing for me,” Kurt says hesitantly. “I still have other dreams, you know?”

“If they’re anything like mine, and I think I know you well enough by now to know they are,” Rachel tells him, “that shouldn’t stop you from doing it. Sheldon was always supportive of me going to New York and trying to make it in the showbiz. He always said I’d be a star by night and a guardian later in the night.”

“And by day?” Kurt asks.

Rachel huffs a bit. “By day I’d be broke, he said, because neither pays well.”

It takes Kurt by surprise, and he throws his head back as he barks out a laugh. Rachel joins him with soft chuckles.

“So, New York, huh?” Kurt finally asks.

Rachel nods. “Broadway, baby,” she sings with a dreamy look on her face. “My mom already agreed to continue my training when I go. So... if you’d want to come with and let her teach you as well…”

She looks at him, a bit guarded. They haven’t really settled this issue between them, the fact that Rachel brought danger to his family by trying to save hers.

But Kurt knows he’ll always be thankful for her presence in the right moments. She saved both him and Blaine. And his family remains unharmed, contrary to hers. He can’t hold a grudge in a time like this.

“Yeah, I’d like that,” he says and leans his head on her shoulder.

* * *

“And that was the news for today,” the host says with a fake smile dancing around her lips. She continues to read from the teleprompter, “Stay tuned for an in-depth analysis of the mass kidnapping incident that took place last week in Lima, Ohio. The Punk’d team claims they have nothing to with it despite eyewitness accounts telling us differently. Find out what _really_ happened after the commercial break.”

Blaine laughs at Kurt making a point of flipping off the host before turning off the TV, and teasingly pokes his boyfriend in the side.

Kurt grins at him. “What? She’s clearly incompetent.”

“Totally,” Santana says from the armchair she’s occupying with Brittany. “We should give them a call and tell them what _really_ really happened.”

_< I already wrote a letter to the police,>_ Brittany says sadly. _< But they couldn’t read my handwriting.>_

Everybody looks slightly confused until Santana holds up a hand like a paw and imitates pressing it to a paper, and they all make sympathetic noises.

“We should watch the report,” Tina says, making everyone groan. “What?” She looks annoyed. “What if the trail somehow leads to us and we’re not prepared?”

“Sure.” Sam yawns. “But what if we’re actually prepared and nothing happens? That would be such a waste of time.” Tina tries to hit Sam with her pillow but he dodges it. “And you know what _wouldn’t_ be a waste of time? Watching Star Wars like we planned so we can make fun of their aliens.”

“Hey, no making fun of aliens while one is in the room,” Blaine reminds Sam, nodding in Kurt’s direction like they don’t all know already.

“Oh, screw you,” Kurt laughs and pushes Blaine off the couch.

Blaine rubs his back. “Ouch. I was just looking out for you.”

“By insulting me?”

Blaine raises his eyebrows. “Since when is ‘alien’ an insult?”

“Since Rachel gave me a way too detailed report on how contemporary popculture misrepresents us all as a homogeneous group of barbaric beings,” Kurt says. “Duh.” He looks around frantically all of a sudden, “Wait, she’s not giving you that same lecture. Where is Rachel?”

Santana cackles. “Did you _seriously_ not notice Ugly and the Beast leave the room? They were _so_ not subtle,” she says with a roll of her eyes. “Ah, but what am I expecting? You were probably too busy trading chaste grandma kisses with your own boyfriend.”

Kurt flips her off, too, and Blaine gives her a look that says _I do not kiss like a grandma_. He gives up when she stares back at him with an unimpressed shrug. Whatever. The only one who needs to know exactly how he kisses is Kurt, anyway.

Sam clears his throat. “I can’t help but notice we’re still not watching Star Wars…”

Blaine gets up at once. “You get the DVD, I’ll get the popcorn.”

“Popcorn!” Kurt beams. “You’re my hero.”

Blaine grins. “We’ll reevaluate after I make you watch my favorite movie series.”

* * *

Kurt’s shoulders slump.

“Come on, dad, please,” he begs.

“No.”

“But-”

“Kurt, I said no and I will continue to say no,” Burt says, not even looking up from the TV. “So save your breath and go to your room.”

Kurt sits down on the edge of the couch. “Dad…”

“I swear to god, if you ask me one more time I’m going to ground you for the rest of your summer break.”

“Ugh, fine,” Kurt huffs out and turns to march back to his room.

“And don’t even think about flying out of your window!” Burt calls after him. “I’m going to check on you every thirty minutes!”

Kurt groans and runs up the stairs. When he gets to his room, he shuts the door, slamming it a little harder than necessary, and picks up his phone from his desk.

He flings himself onto his bed dejectedly as he dials Blaine’s number.

“Hi,” Blaine’s cheery voice echoes through the room, “you’ve reached Blaine Anderson. I’m currently not able to talk but leave me a message and I’ll call you back right away.”

Kurt frowns. Blaine knew he was going to call at this hour. He said he’d wait.

Fifteen minutes later, he’s just getting in full-on sulk mode when his phone starts vibrating and Blaine’s face lights up on his display.

“So, how did it go?” Blaine asks.

“Where were you?” Kurt asks right away, still a bit miffed. “You said you’d wait for my call.”

“Oh, uh, I did,” Blaine says, sounding flustered. “But mom needed help in the kitchen and, uhm… I just knew if I brought my phone down there with me, Cooper would have stolen it and sent you shirtless selfies or something.”

“Oh,” Kurt says. He bites his lip. “Sorry, I thought you had forgotten.”

“Of course not.” Blaine hums. “So, no comment about shirtless Cooper… I take it your dad said no, then?”

Kurt smiles despite his mood.

He had gushed a lot about how good-looking Blaine’s brother was when Blaine showed him a picture. At one point, Blaine had offered to do Kurt’s homework for a whole week if he only stopped using the words ‘hot’ and ‘Cooper’ in the same sentence, which Kurt had taken as his cue to say, “You know who’s hot? Cooper. There, two sentences.”

“Yeah, he said he’d ground me for the rest of summer if I asked one more time.”

“Ouch.”

“I just can’t believe he even grounded me in the first place,” Kurt grumbles. “It was completely uncalled for.”

Blaine chuckles. “To be fair, you did destroy the garage door. I guess most parents would be a little mad.”

“It was an accident!” Kurt protests. “And most parents wouldn’t have an aspiring Andalite guardian as their son who was merely trying to train morphing a little faster than usual so he could one day be an invincible blur of light when enemies attack him.”

“My boyfriend is the Flash,” Blaine says with a dreamy sigh. “Your life is going to be okay, ten-year-old Blaine.”

“Blaine, I have a feeling you’re not taking this seriously,” Kurt says with a roll of his eyes and lets himself sink deeper into the cushions. “You know what this means, right?”

“Yeah,” Blaine says, serious now. “No date night for a week.”

“No Rocky Horror movie night tomorrow,” Kurt says sadly. “I’ve been looking forward to wearing my Riff-Raff costume all month and now I can’t go.”

“I know, me too.”

“Have fun without me, okay?”

That gets Kurt a confused reply. “Uhm,” Blaine says. “I’m not going. Obviously.”

“No, you should,” Kurt says stubbornly. “You already have the tickets. Take… oh, I know! Take Wes.”

“Kurt, I’m not going without you,” Blaine insists. “Besides, you know I love Wes but the guy’s insufferable at movie theatres. He shushes the entire audience if someone so much as chuckles. Have you ever been to a completely silent Rocky Horror night?”

Kurt sighs. “No.”

“Exactly. I’d end up killing him.”

“But you already bought the tickets.”

“It’s not a big deal, I’ll try to get a refund and we’ll go sometime else.”

“And you’re just going to stay home?” Kurt asks.

He knows Blaine was looking forward to it as well. Kurt had a hard time even admitting to him that he got himself grounded the week before their movie night. But of course, Blaine being Blaine, he had been nothing but supportive.

“Well, I thought I’d pop in Rocky Horror on my laptop, and make you do the same so we could watch the movie together over the phone,” Blaine says. “Or we can skype, if you want, then you could wear your Riff Raff costume, and I’ll surprise you with my hot Frankenfurter outfit.”

Kurt chokes on air for a second just imagining Blaine in that outfit.

“You- Blaine, what…”

Blaine giggles at his reaction.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” he says in an amused voice. “I’m going as Eddie.”

Kurt clutches the phone in his hand tighter and beams at the ceiling.

“Okay, then Skype it is,” he says. “Thank you.” And because Blaine’s all the way in Westerville and can’t hear him anyway, he adds, _< I love you.>_

It’s become a bit of a habit, really. He says it whenever Blaine is out of range – not because he’s not ready, he _so_ is, but… he’s a bit afraid that Blaine will feel pressured to reciprocate, and he knows Blaine fell for him much later than he did for Blaine, so he feels like he should give Blaine some time to catch up first.

There’s silence on the other line.

“Blaine?” Kurt asks, looking at his phone in confusion. Have they been disconnected?

Blaine clears his throat. “Uhm, is this a bad time to tell you I’m parked in my car a street down from your house?”

“What?!” Kurt asks, feeling heat rise in his cheeks at lightning speed.

“Wait,” Blaine says, and a minute and at least five mini heart attacks later, Kurt hears someone knock on his window.

Outside is the falcon morph Blaine got at the Six Flags bird station when he worked there for a week.

_< Surprise,>_ he says, sounding a bit apprehensive. _< Let me in?>_

Kurt opens his window and Blaine morphs on the spot. When he’s done, sitting on the windowsill facing Kurt, he ducks his head and looks up from under his eyelashes. Damn him, he’s beautiful.

“I knew your dad was going to say no,” he tells Kurt. “So… I thought I’d drive by instead. That’s why I couldn’t pick up the phone. I was on the road.”

“No shirtless Cooper, then?” Kurt jokes lamely, trying to cover up his nervousness.

Blaine did hear him, right? Or didn’t he? Why isn’t he saying anything?

“Oh, I’m sure he would have done it,” Blaine says, waving a dismissive hand. “I’d prefer it if he didn’t, though. Might make you fall in love with _him_ instead of me and that would be really unfortunate because-”

“Oh god, I’m sorry, I-”

“- I’ve been trying for ages to come up with a clever way to tell you that I’m wildly, madly in love with you, so…”

Kurt’s eyes widen. “What?”

Blaine smiles and pushes himself off the windowsill to take Kurt’s face in his hands. “I love you, Kurt,” he whispers and kisses him deeply.

Kurt throws his arms around him and pulls him closer.

“I love you, too,” he mutters between kisses, thrilled to finally say it out loud. It feels… different. Exciting. Free.

There’s a knock on his door. Speaking of free…

“First check-up,” his dad’s gruffy voice comes through the door. “Next one is in half an hour, make sure Blaine’s gone by then.”

Blaine pulls back a bit to look at Kurt in shock.

“How did he-” he starts.

Kurt cuts him off by kissing him again.

“Lucky guess,” Burt says behind the door. “I’m serious about that half hour, Kurt.”

“Alright, alright,” Kurt tells him, rolling his eyes. Then, as his father’s footsteps start to retreat, he sends out, “So, dad, would you reconsider-”

“Oh my god, Kurt, you’re such a pain!” he bellows. “Fine, go see that movie. But you’re still grounded the rest of the week.” There’s a sigh. “And Blaine? Drive safely.”

Kurt does a little dance – he’s got two reason to be happy now, after all – and Blaine shoots him a wide grin as he calls out a teasing, “Yes, sir!”

* * *

Blaine wakes up with his face pressed into Kurt’s neck and he can’t help but scoot closer and smile into his boyfriend’s bare skin.

It’s by far not the first time Blaine has woken up to the sight of Kurt but it’s certainly the first time he wakes up to him like this, limbs tangled under the covers and their – well, Blaine’s – clothes scattered all over the floor next to the bunk bed.

Kurt had made flirty comments via thought-speak throughout their afternoon morph trip so Blaine couldn’t really help himself when they flew back in through the window and morphed back – he immediately crowded Kurt’s space to kiss him. But Kurt didn’t let him, just held Blaine at arm length and smiled at him as he morphed back.

“Hi,” he said once he was fully human.

“Hi,” Blaine replied with a curious tilt of his head. “What’s going-”

“You-” Kurt blushed and licked his lips. “You can look if you want to.”

The memory from all those months ago flashed back to Blaine in that moment, how Kurt had morphed in front of him in that sinfully tight unitard, so Blaine chuckled when he obeyed and looked.

Then he gulped. And looked back up, heart in his throat.

Kurt’s eyes stayed on Blaine’s, though his rapidly blinking eyes made the contact a bit difficult.

“So,” Kurt started, “I’m hoping this is not completely unsolicited but… we said we were ready the other night and I thought-”

Blaine didn’t let him finish, just pulled Kurt close and kissed him, and Kurt kissed back so feverishly Blaine had a hard time keeping up with his pace.

“ _So not_ unsolicited,” he muttered after a while as he was kissing his way down Kurt’s chest and relishing the noises Kurt was making above him.

He could feel both of their heartbeats trying to best each other in a speeding contest and noted happily that he could manipulate the race to his advantage by kissing at Kurt’s neck and scraping his fingers through the base of his hairline.

It didn’t take long for them to tumble into Blaine’s bed together.

“What are you so smiley about?” Kurt mumbles, and Blaine turns his head towards him. Kurt’s just blinking awake but he has a matching grin on his face and makes a content noise when Blaine starts tracing invisible patterns on his arm.

“Yesterday,” Blaine answers truthfully. He grins. “You. And me. Doing naked things.”

“Yeah?” Kurt asks with a satisfied smile. “Tell me more.”

Blaine kisses his nose. “I love you.”

Kurt smiles so wide his teeth show. “Love you, too.”

* * *

Shelby raises her eyebrows as six kids file into her living room instead of the announced two.

She’s seen them all before, of course, but she really only expected her daughter and Kurt.

Rachel hugs her, and then starts babbling as soon as they part.

“Kurt and I were going to come over on our own but then Blaine asked if he could come and, well… then Sam wanted to tag along, too, and Tina and Santana and Brittany…”

Shelby does a quick recounting and notices that one of the girls is carrying the cat that was at Sheldon’s funeral as well.

Okay, six kids and a cat then.

Kurt shrugs a little and concludes, “And then we thought – why don’t we all just train together?”

Shelby holds up a hand in confusion.

“So, let me get this straight – you want humans to attend guardian training?” she tries to clarify.

“As a group,” the short guy who’s holding Kurt’s hand says. “We’ll be a guardian unit, if you will.”

“And we’re not just humans,” the taller guy says as if he’s narrating a movie trailer. “We’re the Animorphs!”

The girl with the cat rolls her eyes at him. “Just… don’t,” she tells him. The cat giggles.

“We’ve done it once so why wouldn’t we be able to do it again?” the other girl says. “If there’s an alien apocalypse in New York City, we can help, human or not.”

“Tina’s right,” Rachel says. “They’re way more experienced than any Andalite fresh from guardian school.”

Shelby lets her eyes sweep over the group. She remembers them from a year and a half ago, the way they all paid their respect to her brother at his funeral, and how impressed she had been with what they had done. She would have never thought, though, that after going through it once, they would want to go back ever again.

“Well,” she says, smiling at them, “the more, the merrier. Welcome to Guardian Training 101.”

* * *

They’ve only barely made it through security when Kurt’s emergency cellphone beeps.

“Oh my god,” Kurt moans in horror as he reads the text message. “Already?!”

Blaine takes his carry-on from the counter.

“What is it?” he asks quietly as Kurt ties his shoes.

_< There was a Yeerk sighting near the Met,> _Kurt says discreetly, not looking up at Blaine.

“They’ll handle it,” Blaine says. “I’m sure they won’t need us.”

_< They said there were three, Blaine. Three.>_

Blaine sighs. “Kurt.”

“I know, I know.” Kurt seems frustrated and hesitates a bit before asking, “Am I already ruining this for you?”

Blaine’s resolve crumbles immediately.

“You could never ruin this for me,” he replies gently. With a grin, he continues, “I couldn’t even do this without you, so how could you ruin it?”

Kurt smiles but he still pushes on, “You know what I mean.”

“I’m just saying, you should trust them to handle it. Besides, they’re outnumbering them. Five against three? Come on.” Blaine laughs. “Last week when nobody else was free we went off on our own and we took out _two dozen_ of them.”

It’s true. They had gotten notice from Shelby that there was an attempt to colonize Jersey Shore. The Yeerk pioneers that had been sent down to earth to do the job ran right into the waiting arms of Kurt and Blaine.

Blaine sees Kurt’s lips twitch into a smile. Good sign.

“That’s because we’re such a good team,” Kurt says.

“Yes.” Blaine nods. “And now we’re getting marriage bonus. That has got to make us an even better one.”

Kurt leans over to kiss him sweetly but their kiss gets interrupted by another beep.

“Kurt, I’m throwing that thing out the window,” Blaine warns.

Kurt looks at him apologetically as he checks the message.

“Oh, false alarm,” he says. “Just some confused tourists.”

Blaine rolls his eyes. Figures.

He watches Kurt pocket the phone with apprehension.

“You’re muting it when we’re having sex, right?” he asks Kurt.

Kurt tilts his head and smirks. “You want me to mute my apocalypse emergency phone for the _whole_ duration of our honeymoon?”

Blaine’s heart does a flip just hearing Kurt say the word. They’re going on their _honeymoon_.

He grins. “Yes, that’s _exactly_ what I want.”

Kurt pretends to think about it for a moment.

“Okay,” he says in the end. “I guess I can live with that.”

“Really?” Blaine teases. “What if the apocalypse really does strike?”

“Oh, well,” Kurt says. “Then I can cross honeymoon with Blaine off my bucket list and die a happy man.”

Blaine laughs. Then he gets up and offers Kurt his hand.

“You know what? Leave it on,” he says with finality. “I’ve got a few more adventures planned with you that I would like to be alive for.”

Kurt lets himself be pulled up and leans close for another kiss.

“See? I’m always right.”

“Oh, shut up,” Blaine groans and starts walking in the direction of their gate.

“But I am,” Kurt says, falling into step next to him. “I wanted the cellphone on, and now I’m getting my wish.”

“You’re insufferable. I _granted_ you that wish out of the goodness of my heart.”

“Sure,” Kurt huffs out. “And I want to save the world out of the goodness of my heart.”

“Is this what married life with you is going to be like?” Blaine turns around on the spot and pretends to look for nearest exit. “Where do I get off?”

“In bed with your husband on your honeymoon,” Kurt jokes, pulling him along.

“Oh my god,” is all that Blaine says in reply.

Kurt giggles and presses a kiss to Blaine’s cheek. “You know you love me.”

Well. Blaine really can’t argue with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so they lived happily ever after. :P

**Author's Note:**

> I'm super excited to get feedback on this as the story unfolds, so if you can spare a minute, I'd be eternally grateful if you'd tell me what you thought. :)


End file.
